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LYNN 



SURROUNDINGS 



Clarence W, Hobbs. 



ILLUSTRA TED. 



1886. 




Entered accordiuac to Act of Congress, in the year 18S6, by 

I.KAvis & WiNSHip, Publishers, 
in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at AVasiiiugton. 



><< 



naex. 



List of Illustrations, 

Preface, ..... 

"High Rock," .... 

Inlroduction — "Lynn and Surroundings," 

Saugus, ..... 

" Saugust is called Lin," 

Lynn Legends. 

Bride of Pennacook, 
The Pirates' Glen, . 
Dungeon Pock, 
Treasure of Pines Point, 
The Quaker Invasion, 
The Witchcraft Tragedy, 

Moll Pitcher, .... 
The Sea Serpent, .... 
City of Lynn, .... 
Leading Industries, 
Among the Churches . 
Glimpses of the Town, 
Organizations, .... 
Some Lynn People, 
Lynn and Surroundings, 



Pages 4, 5, 6 



35 

36 
38 
40 

44 
50 
55 
59 
62 
68 
82 
102 
[23, 

'55 



^isi of ^UusiPaiiens. 



Frontispiece— High Rock, 

Title Heading — Lynn and Surroundings, 

Natural Scenery.— Foot of Nahant street, 

Across the Marshes, 

Cliff' Rock 

Lake Wenuchus, 

A Ghmpse cjf the Marsh, 

Phaeton Rock, 

Floating Bridge, 

Great Dwarf J<ock, 

Red Rock, . ' . ■ 

Tedesco Rocks, Swampscott, 

Ascent to Dungeon Rock, 

Entrance to Dungeon Rock, 

Dread Ledge, 

Eastern Point, Nahant, 

Nahant Breakers, . 

Breakwater, Lynn Beach, 

Shding Rock, 

Spring Pond, . 

Waite's Well, 

Breed's Pond, 

Lovers' Leap, 

Lynn Beach, . 

Strawberry Brook, 

Hunters' Cabin in the Woods, near Flax Pond 
Historical Sketches.- Indian Maiden, 

First Map ,.f S;ui-us. .-/. Lewis. 

Earlv Ibiinr. in Srui-as, 

Abijidi r.nar i!ii;iii 1 luinestead, Saugus 

Indian Si-iKiturcs to Deed of Lynn, 

OldTcun ikill. . 

Southwest Side of Market street. 

Old Anchor Tavern, 
First R. R Stalion in Lynn, 
Dark Entrance to Pirates' Cave, 
Relics from Pirates Cave, 
Old Anvil from Pirates' Cave, 
Treasure Digger at Pines Point, 
The Ark", Fayeite street, 
Auction Sale of a Quaker, 
Witches' Ride to Meeting, 
Fxeculion of Ann Hibbins, . 
Parsonage, Salem Village, 
Witclir.' Aiicndants, 
Moll I'lidur, 
Moll I'iiclier's Cottage, 
Grave of Moll Pitcher, . 
Sea Serpent, 
Old Shoe Shop, 
Primitive Shoemaking, 
" Hannah at the Window, Binding Shoes, 
Shed at West Lynn, 
Map of Lvnn lifty years ago, 
-Blue Ta\ern, Liberty street, 
Hawthorne House, 
Early Settlers, 

Views of Lynx.— Lynn, looking southeast from High 
Lynn, from Nahant road, 
WestLvnn and Lynn Common, from City Hall 
Looking south, from A. B. Martin's residence. 
Scene in Maple street, Old Parrott Homestead 
Gold Fish Pond, . 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Views of Lynn, Continued. — Old Houses on Boston street, 
Sketch on Walnut street, Old Shoe Shop, 
Lynn Harbor, Yacht Regatta, 
Mt. Vernon street, . 
Willow street. 
Central square. 

Early Morning in Union street. 
Mall, on the Common, 
Commercial street, 
Looking down Market street. 
Soldier's Monument, City Hall square. 
Frog Pond on the Common, 
Market square. 

The Common, from Market square, . 
Looking up Mall street, 
Entrance to Pine Grove Cemetery, 
The Garden in Pine Grove Cemetery, 
Washington street, 
Highland square, 
Nahant street, 
Newhall street, 
Baltimore street, 
Tudor street, . 
Ocean street, 
Munroe street, 
Egg Rock, by Moonlight, 
Egg Rock, by Sunlight, . 
Franklin Sciuare, East Saugus, 
Lincoln Avenue, East Saugus, 
Swampscott, 

Lincoln House, Swampscott, 
Nahant, .... 
Map of Nahant, 
Nahant Beach, 
Bass Beach, . 

Buildings.— Lynn City Hall, City Hall square, 

C. D. Pecker & Co.'s Factory, Central square, 
Ashcroft Building, Union street. 
Alley Buildmg/ Union street, 
Buffum Block, Union street, 
V. K. & A. H. Jones' Factory, Broad street, 
J. N. Buffum & Co.'s Block, Broad street, 
Lennox Block, Market street, 

D. A. Caldwell & Co.'s Factory, Oxford street, 
Morgan & Dore's Factory, Oxford street, . 
Lucius Beebe & Son's Factory, West Lynn, 
Boscobel Hotel, Market square, . 
Hotel Nahant, Nahant road, 
Home for Aged Women, North Common street, 
Lvnn Hos]iiial, Boston street. 
Children's liome, Boston street, . 
City Almshouse, Boston street, 

Massachusetts Temperance Home, New Ocean street, 

Grand Army Building, Andrew street. 

Young Men's Christian Association Building, Market street, 

Odd Fellows' Building, Market street, 

Lee Hall, City Hall square. 

First National Bank, cor. Broad and Exchange streets, . 

Highland School, Highlands, 

Cobbett School, Franklin street, 

Shepard School, Warren street, . 

Broad Street Engine House, 

Fayette Street Engine House, 

Federal Street Engine House, 

Old Lyceum Building, Market street. 

Churches. — Original First Church, 

Second First Church, "Old Tunnel," 

Third First Church, now Seccnd Univeisahst, . 



^ LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Churches, Con^hmed.-Fomlh First Church, burned in 1870, 
First Church, Congregational, South Common street, 
Central Congregational Church, Silsbee street 
North Congregational Church, Laighton street. 
The -'Old Bowery" Church, site of Lee Hall ' 
l^irst Methodist Church, City Hall square 
St Paul's Methodist Church,' Union street' 
South Street Methodist Church, 
Boston Street Methodist Church, 
First Baptist Church, North Common street, 
Washingion Street Baptist Church, 
East Baptist Church, Union street. 
First Universalist Church, Nahant street, 
Christ Church, North Common street. 
Interior of St. Stephen's Church, 

St Stephen's Episcopal Church, South Common street 
Chapel of the Incarnation, Estes street, 
St. Mary's Church, City Hall square. 

Portraits.— Mary Pitcher, (Moll Pitcher), 

Hon. George Hood, Lynn's First Mayor, 

Hon. Peter M. Neal, Lynn's War Mayor, . 

Rev. Parsons Cooke, formerly of First Church 

Rev. James L. Hill, North Church, 

Rev. James M. Pullman, D.D., First Universalist Church 

E. Redmgton Mudge, Donor of St. Stephen's Church, 

Rev. h . L. Norton, D.D., St. Stephen's Church, 

Kev. John L. Egbert, Church of the Incarnation 

Richard W. Drown, 

A. C. Moody, 

Alonzo Lewis, 

Judge J. R. Newhali. . " . ' 

David N. Johnson, 

Hon. John B. Alley, 

John B. Tolman, 

Hon. Wm. F. Johnson, 

Hon. James N. Buffum, . ' . " 

Benj. F. Doak, 

Francis W. Breed, . 

Hon. Josiah C. Bennett, 

John P. Woodbury, 

Hon. John R. Baldwin, . 

Henry F. Hurlburt, Esq., 

Hon. Geo. D. Hart, 

Hon. Henry B. Lovering, . . ' . 

Chas. O. Beede, 

Col. Gardiner Tufts, 

Gen. B. F. Peach, 

Hon. F. D. Allen, . 

Capt. John G. B. Adams, 

Wm. A. Clark, Jr., 

David Walker, ' .".'.' 

Hon. Frank W. Jones, . ' . * . 

Horace A. Roberts, . . ' . ' 

Residen'ces.— Roland G. Usher Homestead, City Hall square 
John T. Moulton's Flome, Mall street. 
Judge J. R. Newhall's Cottage, Walnut street, 
John W. Healey's Residence, Washington street, . 
C. K. Clark's Residence, cor. Western avenue and Washington 
S. C. Newhall's Residence, Highland square, 
Hutchinson Cottage, High Rock, 
Residence of A. B. Martin, High Rock avenue,' 
Residence of Hon. J. N. Buffum, Herbert street. 
Residence of Hon. J. C. Bennett, Beacon Hill avenue 
Residence of Hon. J. B. Alley, Nahant street, . 
Residence of Eugene Barry, Nahant street. 
Residence of F. W. Breed, Ocean street. 
Residence of J. P. Woodbury. Nahant street. 
Residence of Joseph N. Smith, Ocean street. 



90 
91 
91 

92 

93 
93 
94 
96 
96 
97 
99 
100 

56 
63 
64 
86 
88 
95 
97 
98 

99 
128 
132 
136 
137 
137 
139 
140 
140 
141 
142 

143 
144 

145 
145 
146 

147 
148 
148 
149 
150 
151 
152 
152 
153 
153 
154 

105 
108 
109 
III 
112 

"3 
114 
114 
n6 
116 
117 
119 
120 
120 



Illtll ^Plplplpl 







'^m 



eVERLOOKING the town of Lynn, 
So far above that the city's din 

^ Mingles and blends with the heavy roar 

I Of the breakers along the curving shore; 
Scarred and furrowed and glacier-seamed 
Back in the ages so long ago 
The boldest philosopher never dreamed 
To count the centuries' ebb and flow; 
Stands a rock, with its gray old face 
Eastward ever turned, to the place 
Where first the rim of the sun is seen, 
Whenever the morning sky is bright. 
Cleaving the glistening, glancing sheen 
Of the sea with a disc of insufferable light. 
Down in the earth its roots strike deep; 
Up to his breast the houses creep, 
Climbing e'en to his rugged face. 
Or nestling lovingly at his base. 

Stand on his forehead, Ijare and brown; 
Send your gaze o'er the roofs of the town 
iVway to the line, so faint and dim. 
Where the sky stoops down to the crystal rim 
Of the broad Atlantic, whose billows toss. 
Wrestling and weltering and hurrying on 
With awful fury, whenever across 
His broad, bright surface, with howl and moan, 
The tempest whirls, with black wing bowed 
To the yielding waters which fly to the cloud, 
Or hurry along, with thunderous shocks. 
To break on the ragged and riven rocks. 

When the tide comes in on a sunny day. 

You can see the waves break back in spray 

From the splintered spurs of I'hillips' Head; 

Or, tripping along \\ith dainty tread, 

As of a million glancing feet, 

Shake out t-he light in a quick retreat; 

Or along the smooth curve of the beach, 

Snowy and curling, in long lines reach 

An islet, anchored and held to land 

By a glistening, foam-fringed ril^bon of sand — 

That is Nahant, and that hoary ledge 

To the left is Egg Rock, like a blunted wedge 

Cleaving the restless ocean's breast, 

And bearing the light-house on its crest. 

— Elizabeth F. Merrill. 



lYn-i'-'" 



7r'^ c? 







-,^> .e^^^^^^fe"- 



p YXN is like no other Ne 
■y Both in situation and si 






are found within her borders. 



Jew England city, 
lundings, she 
has a beauty and a charm all her own, 
and m her natural iDhysical characteristics is 
displayed a marked individuality. All the 
varied scenes of town, sea-shore and country 
' The former drives his team afield " not far 
from the stirring mart, and the fisherman mends his nets in sight of the tower- 
ing, smoke- wreathed chimneys of the large factories. But a short distance 
northward from the City Hall are bosky dells between the hills where one may 
hide, and many peaceful lakes where the wanderer mav catch the reflection of 
wooded shore and shadowy cloud ; while nearer still, in the opposite direction, 
is the smooth beach, where one may walk the shining sand, j^lunge beneath the 
curling breakers, or from the neighboring clifl' count the sails and watch the 
mighty pulsations of the restless heart of ocean, as with ceaseless throbs she 
sends the wavelets hurrying toward the shore. Or, better still, if one has but 
an hour for sight-seeing, let him climb the stairs to the top of the rugged observ- 
atory built by nature, ages before man built the town, and a wondrous panorama 
unfolds before his eyes. At his feet lie the city and the shore ; on the landward 
side the view is limited only by the dark background of evergreen-clad hills, 
while toward the sea the scene dies a\vay in the purple haze which hangs like 
a veil over the bosom of the ocean. No point of view on the Atlantic gives a 
larger return for so little effort, and no otlier city of the New World can boast of 
suciian endless variety of landscape and sea-view, hill and valley, lake and river, 
cottage-crowned cliff and rock-bound shore, with the bright waters of the bay 



14 



LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 



dimpling and sparkling in the sunlight. On a clear day the scene is full of life 
and light, and is inspiring and exhilarating in a high degree. But when the 
storm cloud hangs over the waters, and the huge waves seem to gather their 
forces for a final assault upon the opposing rocks, and the spray flies in clouds 
far vip on the shore, the scene is full of grandeur. 

Let us together visit High Rock, and see these things for ourselves. One 
hundred and seventy feet to the tojD ; and approached from the northward, the 
ascent is gradual and easy ; but on the seaward side both wind and limb get 
well tested, though the climb is now facilitated by successive flights of steps 
set in an iron frame-work upon the face of the clift'. 

There was once a wooden tower on the summit of the rock, but one night 
it disappeared in smoke ; and now we take our stand upon the bare rock, or lean 
against the flag-staft'. The eye naturally turns first toward the sea. At the left 
is the village of Swampscott, with its cluster of fishing-boats and white beach 
covered with dories and fishing-nets spread out to dry. Further out is Baker's 
Island, with its light, the white towers of Marblehead, and on a clear day is 
seen the distant headland of Cape Ann. Off" to the right are the dark brown 
monument of Bunker Hill and the gilded dome on Beacon Hill. Further to the 
north we get a glimpse of Wachusett rising above the succession of lesser hills, 
and to the south the Blue Hills of JSIilton lie misty in the distance. Neai'er 
stretches out the graceful curve of Crescent Beach, and directly in front of us 




MAPLE STREET. GLEXMERE. 

is tlie harbor, its bounds determined on the one hand by the Point of Pines, and 
on the other by the dark rocks of the Nahants — those twin gems of the North 
Shore, connected with the mainland only by a narrow neck of sand — 

" A snowy ribbon, fringed with foam." 

Lying low in the waters of the bay, seemingly no larger than a fisherman's 
dory, is Egg Rock, with its white light-house, for thirty years a faithful sentinel 
on a dangerous coast. Around to the northeast are seen the hills and plains of 



GOLD-FISH POND. 



15 



Danvers and Peabody, while through a gap in the hills we catch a glimpse of 
our near neighbor, Salem. Back from the town stretch a ledgy range of hills— 
of which High Rock is the most easterly — their sides clothed witlfdark green 
trees, save where these have given way to beautiful cottages, and occasionally a 
more stately residence ; and each of them has its name : Lover's Leap, a steep 
cli:r one hundred feet high from its base, and one hundred and thirty from the 
sea level ; Pine Hill, two hundred and twenty-four feet high, at the southwestern 
extremity of which is Saddler's Rock, one hundred and sixty feet high ; and 
among them are the Pirates' Cave, Dungeon Rock, Glen Lewis, and many other 
beautiful spots made doubly interesting by the halo of legend and romance which 
surrounds their names. 

At our feet lies the city, circling around on either side and climbing the 
sides of the hill until many of its houses nestle under the very edge of the rock 
on which we stand. Northeast of us lie the pretty villages of Wyoma and 
Glenmere, and the once beautiful lake, bearing the musical name of the Indian 
maiden, Wenuchus. In its waters our foremothers rotted their flax, whence 
came its more practical and homely name. Now the useful but prosaic ice- 
house sadly mars the symmetry of its shores. Further to the east Gold-fish 



' hi 





'^::~^-^—~-"^"'^'"' GOLD-FISH POXD, FAYETTE STREET. 

Pond lies like a gem in the sunlight, while crowning the eminence which 
overlooks the bay are hundreds of beautiful residences, half hid among the 
leafv branches of the elms and maples. Directly to the southwest, beUveen 
us and the harbor, is the manufacturing district. At this distance we hear 
little of the noise of the cit}-, but we can see the busy life as it pours up and 
down the streets. The buildings ha^•e a substantial and prosperous appear- 
ance, and are admirably adapted to the great industry of the city. What a 
contrast between these solid structures of brick and the low wooden shops in 
which the slioe business of Lynn was transacted bei'ore the trade of shoemaking 



IQ , LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 

had been evolved into a science ! As we turn toward the west, we see that the 
circus-field of our boyhood has become thickly populous ; and over the thick- 
leaved trees of the Common, which, from this standpoint, hide the shape thereof 
— so appropriate to the City of Shoes — we can see the white- walled homes of 
West Lynn stretching far out toward the Saugus River ; and beyond, as the sun 
is setting, we catch a glimpse of the shadowy hills and salty flats of the towns 
beyond.* In our sweep we have counted the spires of the churches and the 
towers of the school-houses, admired the proportions of the City Hall, and 
marked where the t%vo roads stretch their converging lines of rails toward 
Boston. We can dimly see the gray stones in the old Burying Ground, where 
sleep the worthies of the colonial days, and to the north, gleaming fair, the 
white monuments of the more modern but equally silent city of the dead. 

There is little in this busy modern city to remind us that it has a history, 
and that the white man first trod the spot where w^e stand, more than two 
centuries and a half ago. The city of the fathers is no more — gone out as com- 
pletely and permanently as the ways and methods of the cordwainers who first 
plied their trade in her little shops. The makers of the labor-saving machines 
made over the somewhat scattered and straggling town of Lynn into a thriving 
and prosperous city, which refuses to believe the census-taker who says we have 
not yet fifty thousand inhabitants. 




^J^SM^^ 



FOOT OF >AI1ANT blUEET. 



L^ 



'■"■^^T^,^^.^ 



"I A^HAT time the first white man set his foot upon the soil of Lynn, or who 
I^Jr he was, history revealeth not. Legends of a visit by Thorwald, with a 
^^ company of sturdy Norsemen, to Nahant in the eleventh century, as well 
I I as tales of explorations in these waters by the early English adventurers, 

Gosnold and Pring, are preserved ; but 

their foundation is obscure, if not doubt- 
ful. It is reasonably certain, however, 

that in 1614 Capt. John Smith, having 

established his Virginia colony, sailed 

northward on a voyage of exploration ; 

and in his excellent description of the 

coast, he mentions the IVIattahunts as 

two islands of great beauty, and gives 

such a minute descrijotion of the bay 

and surroundings as to leave little 

doulit that he explored the beauti- 
ful peninsula, but had mistaken the 

pronunciation of the Lidian name, Xa- 

hanteau. In i6zz the whole territory 

known as the Massachusetts, extending 

ten miles northeast from the Charles 

River, including Saugus and the Na- 

hants, was granted to Capt. Robert 

Gorges ; but he failed to perfect his 

title to his j^rincely domain, and left 

his heirs only a series of vexatious law- 
suits, \vhich were decided against them. 

The settlement of Salem was begun in 

1625 by the famous Roger Conant, 

who came thither with the remnant of 

the CajDC Ann colony. On the 19th 

of March, 1628, the Council in Eng- 
land sold all that part of Massachusetts 

between three miles north of the Charles River and three miles south of the Mer- 




CLIFF ROCK, NEAR PEABODV LINE. 



18 



LYNX AND SURROUNDINGS. 



rimack to a company of six gentlemen, among whom was Mr. John Humphrey, 
who afterward became an honored citizen of Lynn. Until that time the Indians 
had held undisputed possession of the country. Essex County was included in 

the domain of Nan- 
B apashemet, the 
mighty chief of the 
Pawtuckets, who 
sometimes made his 
home near the falls 
of the Merrimack, 
and occasionally on 
Sagamore Hill, at 
the eastern end of 
our city. But in a 
ongand bloody war 
with the Tarratines, 
those tei'rible fight- 
ers of eastern New 
England, Nana- 
pashemet, the New 
!Moon, had gone 
down in a crimson 
sky : and a terrible 




scourge, occurrmg 
shortl}- after, had so 
reduced the num- 
bers of the 
Indians that 
when the first 
^ settlers came, 
there were only 
scatteringvillages 
here and there, 
presided over by local sa- 
chems, and the old warlike 
spirit of the noble red men 
had given place to a more peaceful disposi- 
tion, and a readiness to receive whatever in 
the way of benefits the hand of the white 
men might bring. They were entirely will- 
ing to sell whatever land the settlers desired, and did not hesi- 
tate to sell the same parcel as many times over as they could 
find a purchaser — a practice prolific of trouble for the settlers 
and business for the courts. The Indians are represented to have been tall and 
well-formed, and one impressionable writer speaks of "the unparalleled beauty" 
of the Indian maidens, describing them as having "very good features, seldom 



SAUGUS. 



19 



without a comc-to-me in their countenance, all of them black-eved, liavin<^ even, 
short teeth, and very white, their hair bhick, thick and long, broad-breasted, 
handsome, straight bodies, and slender, thin limbs, cleanly, straight, generally 
plump as a partridge, and, saving now and then one, of modest deportment ; " 
and another says : " The Indesses that are young are some of them very comelv. 
Many prettie Bi-ownettos and spider-fingered lassies may be seen among them." 
No doubt the national costume of the Indians aflbrded abundant facilities for 
accurate personal description. 










THE FIRST MAP OF SAUfiUS 

Lewis, wa-iting in 1S44, gravely informs us that Lynn '• is much smaller 
than it was before the towns of Saugus, Lynnfield, Reading and South Reading 
were separated from it." Since that time the towns of Swampscott and Nahant 
have taken up separate existence. All the territory comprising these towns was 
called l)y the Indians, Saugus, Salem was known as Naimikeag, JNIarblehead 
as Alassabequash, and the territory lying southwest of Saugus had the musical 
appellation of Winnisimet, but it was included in the territory of ]Mystic, which, 
afterward became Boston. The marsh now lying partly in Chelsea and partly 
in Saugus wos called Rumney marsh. When the white men came, Winne- 
poyekin — the Winnepurkit of Whittier's Bride of Pennacook — eldest son of 
Nanapashemet, 

" He whose name the Mohawk trembhng heardj'' 

ruled the territory of Xaumkeag, Montowampate was sachem of Saugus, and 
Poquanam of Nahant — all of them sons of Nanapashemet. The whites gave 
these three sagamores the less melodious but more pronounceable names of 
Sagamore James, Sagamore George No-nose and Duke William. It is evident 
that the '• power and regal consequence" attributed to the Saugus chieftains had 
failed to impress the settlers as anything overwhelming. Most of the Indians, 
hereabouts lived on Sagamore Hill, near the end of Long Beach, at Swamp- 



20 



LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS 



scott, and at Nahant. Saugus signifies great or extended, and was used by the 
Indians to designate the long beach which stretched out in front of their official 
residence. The river which now goes by that name was called by the Indians, 
Abousett. Nahant is a shortening of the Indian term Nahanteau, signifying the 
twins, and for many years the settlers adopted the Indian formula, and spoke 
of the two islands as the Nahants. When, therefore, in 1629 — probably in 
the leafy month of June — Edmund and Francis Ingalls, not liking the atmos- 
phere of the Endicott settlement at Salem, set out to find a place to " set 
themselves downe," under the roving permission, given by the blufl' and some- 
times peppery Governor, to go where it pleased them, came hitherward search- 
ing for a suitable location where they might carve themselves out a home, the\' 
found a broken country, thickly covered with the primeval forest, save where, 
here and there, the Indians had cleared small patches, where they planted their 
pumpkins, beans and corn. Without doubt they climbed High Rock to get the 
lay of the land, and as their eyes drank in the beautiful prospect, perhaps they 
felt in their hearts, as Thorwald is said to have done when he landed on Nahant : 
" Here it is beautiful, and here I would like to fix my dwelling." Edmund 
chose "a fayre plaine " beside a sedgy lakelet, on what is now called Fayette 
street, and Francis selected a spot nearer the beach in vSwampscott, where he 
built the first tannery in New England. Newhall, in Ills Jewels of the Third 
Plantation, giv^es a charming pictui'e of the building of the first log cabin. 
There accompanied Edmund Ingalls from Salem, when he was ready to com- 
mence his habitation, a goodly company, who lent willing hands to the work. 

The corner stone, or, more properly, the 
corner log, was laid with earnest exhorta- 
tion and lengthy prayer, and tradition has 
it that one Zachariah Hart Avorked harder, 
prayed longer and swore louder than any 
other man in the compan}'. Three other 
families came to Lynn that year— William 
Dixey, who remained here some years, 
but finally removed to Salem ; William 
Wood, who subsequently left to begin 
with others the settlement of Sandwich ; 
and John Wood, who lived on the corner 
of Essex and Chestnut streets, and from him that locality has ever since been 
called Woodend. The Indians received the settlers kindly, and I'endered them 
assistance in many ways, and, in return, received many benefits from the hands 
of the colonists. The following year saw nearly fifty families added to the 
number of settlers, who took up land in various portions of the plantation, and 
this year was born Thomas Newhall, the first white child who saw the light in 
Lynn. These settlers were principally farmers, who brought with them from 
England many of the necessaries and comforts of life, and possessed a large 
stock of cattle. The sheep, goats and swine were for many years pastured on 
.Nahant, the danger from catamounts, bears and wolves being so great tliat the 
constant services of a shepherd were required for their protection. The Saugus 
freemen took their seats in the General Court in 1630, an act which constituted 




EARLY HOMES I\ SAUGUS. 



SAUGUS. 21 

all the incorporation the town ever had. The let^islators had mostly come from 
the walks of private life, and were unskilled in the mysteries of statecraft. 
Besides, the General Court had its calendar full of business, being called upon 
to regulate many of the most trifling details of everyday life, to say nothing of 
exercising a general oversight of the religious opinions of the settlers. As a 
consequence, many things which were well enough were suffered to stand, by 
common consent. But the progress of the settlers was measurably rapid. 
Their habitations, which at the first were roughly built of logs and thatched 
with straw or sedge, were improved ; farming tools became more abundant, and 
preparation was made for the common defense by the organization of a military 
company, which had two '•great sakers," or iron cannon. The surrounding 
Indians, seeing the growing power of the settlers, had begun to be uneasy and 
less friendly ; although the local sachems continued to regard the settlers kindly, 
the sad experiences of the other colonies warned the dwellers in Saugus to 
be on their guard. No outbreak ever occurred in this vicinity, but twenty-six 
men from Saugus took part in the King Philip war and participated in the 
swamp fight, which proved the death-blow to the power of the mighty Sassacus. 

During the first few years the religious privileges of the set- 
tiers were limited, the nearest minister being at Salem, and to '!' 

attend service there the settleis hatl to tra\eise a load well-nigh 
impassable from stumps and lockb. In i6^|. the Rev. Stephen 
Bachilcr came to Saugus, and the Fust Chuich \\a^ organi/e( 
The first meeting-house wa^, situated on the coiner of _ 
Shepard and vSummei stieets. It was a log buildmg- 
set in a hollow for ]:)ri)tLLti()ii fiom tin. ^^ iiid-. ii.d like 




LAKE WENUCHUS, OR FLAX POND. 

many of the early dwelling-houses, the floor was sunk 
"r.---^ '^ several feet below the surface of the ground outside, and 

entrance was had only by a descent of several steps. Trouble soon arose 
between Mr. Bachiler and his flock, and in 1636 he was succeeded by Rev. 
Samuel Whiting, a most godly man. Under his fostering care the church 
became united and prosperous, and the foundation was laid so deep and strong 
that the church continues to tills day with no substantial change in form or 
d(jctrine, the oldest orthodox Congregational Church in the w^orld. The form 
iind appearance of the town has undergone several transformations ; new sects 



22 



LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 



and new doctrines have arisen, few of wliich remain ; but amid all the clash and 
tumult of sect and faction, and the changes in the customs and manners of the 
people, the old First Church has stood, a monument to that sturdy Puritan faith 
which would sooner face the terrors and hardships of a home in the wilderness 
than oppression and interference in matters of conscience, and which has been 
transmitted from father to son for ten generations. 

With 1637 ends what maybe termed the first period of our history. In the 
eight years of its existence the colony has so rapidly increased in numbers that 
an assistant to the minister had been installed, farms cleared and stocked, mills 
built, and a ferry established over the Saugus River ; altogether the colony was 
contented and prosperous. 




A Glimpse of the Marshes. 




©a 



llei 



O UCH is the quaint and entire official record of the legishition by which our 
vJ city came to be called by its new name, the action of the General Court 
f necessary thereto taking place on the 15th of November, 1637. The name 
i was given in compliment to Rev. Samuel Whiting, who had come hither 
from King's Lynn, in England. Tlie name in its original form, k/i, signify- 
ing " spreading waters," was thought to be specially applicable to this spot, 
with its beautiful bays and its nine forest-girt lakelets scattered here and there. 




The name was written by the settleis •• ^ouil- 
what accortling to the taste and fancv of the speller 

Lin, Linn, L^n, Lynn and Lynne. "Xhe lil^erties taken ^TynnfielS^r''6a'!)^^^ 
with the orthography of the \vord were no greater than was done with most 
other words of the language, for it seems as though some of the early writers 
tried to n>ake their manuscripts as grotescjue as possilile. Some time was 
required to familiarize the people with the new name. For several vears 
Saugus and Lynn were interchangeable terms, and sometimes the name of the 
place was written '• Lvnn at Saugus." Notwithstanding the change of name, 
the affairs of the colony ran on in their usual and uneventful course. Population 
gradually increased, better roads were constructed, bridges built, and schools 
opened, where the boys became acquainted with the rule of three and the 



24 



LYXN AND SURROUNDINGS. 



schoolmaster's ferule, the heroic method of instruction being then the popular 
idea. Very little attention was given to the education of females, it being 
deemed of more importance that they should be skilled in domestic arts. 

The Iron Works were established in Saugus in 1643, and 
for several years continued to be the only, 
as they were the first, manufacture of the 
.:. . :;;ai;.^.. kind in the colonies. They 

continued an eventful but 
^^ unprofitable existence for 
many years, the chief ob- 
i -^^^ 1 stacle to their success being 
'^ the scarcityof money among 
their customers. The ore 
used was bog iron, ^^'hich 
was quite abundant, and the fur- 
naces turned out a good gi'ade of charcoal iron. 
Three years later Lynn was made a market town, 
and Tuesdays were given to a general interchange of commodities among the 
inhabitants, and the Market Street occasionally took on an animated appear- 
ance, scarcely rivalling, however, the bustle and brilliancy of a modern Saturday 
evening. Until the years closely following 1650, the settlers had their religious 
affairs very much their own way, and doubtless thought they had secured the 
poet's ideal — 

" Freedom to worship God." 

The teachings of George Fox, and the bitter persecution accorded him in Eng- 
land, had not been unnoted in the New World, and "'^ ^^ <^4. ^ 
the people had begun to take sides in the controversy 
when the first Qiiakers landed in Boston in 1656.' 
The colonial authorities were quick to imitate tlicii 
English cousins in their methods of dealing with tl ^ 






FLOATING BRIDGE. 



unvvclcume visitors. The Irecdoiu of w^orship 
which they had found, they were wholly unwilling 
to accord to the visiting Qiiakers, and they were 
promptly imprisoned and sent back to England on 
the first departing vessel. The record of the next 
few years forms a terrible chapter in our history. 
The whipping-post and the gallows had their fre- 
quent Qiiaker victims, and it was not till twenty 



'SAUGUST IS CALLED LIN.' 



25 



years after that the authorities discovered that these were the least efiective 
means ever devised for checking tlie growth of a rehgious idea. The Qiiakers 
continued to multiply until there were over one hundred families in Lynn, and 
it was not until opposition was withdrawn and they were left to themselves that 
they were found to be a simple and harmless body, with many of the ordinary 
frailties common to our human nature. 

Scarcely had the excitement over Qiiakerism begun 
to decline when the bugaboo of w itchcraft arose to vex 
the iighteous souls ot the scttleis. Salem village, now 



'^'-^[fi^'^f^ ' r 







I poition ot Dc 



m^wjpj^: 



^?a?^^ 




5F POCK, Ni_AR GLEN LE/v'IS 



iTvcis, was headquarters for the 
li ange delusion, but Lynn 
was l)v no means left out 
m the cold. On the con- 
tiai\, she took an active 
pait m the strange and 
t ei I ible tragedies, and fur- 
nished herquota of alleged 
\\ itches, and an occasional 
wi/aid The excitement 
Luhnm ited in 1692, and 
notw itlistanding the violence 
of the outbieak, subsided as 
(|uickl\ as it had arisen. 

Tlie old loir meetinsr- 



house, which for half a century served the spiritual needs of the colonv, was 
removed, in 1682, from .Sliepard street to the center of the Common, and con- 
verted into a more pretentious edifice, which, from its peculiar shape, has gone 
into history by the name of the Old Tunnel. The Rev. Samuel Whiting, for 
forty years the faithful pastor and earnest preacher, passed to his rest in 1679, 
and shortly after, the Rev. Jeremiah Shepherd came to fill his post. Mr. Shep- 
herd had few of the characteristics of his predecessor. He was a positive spirit- 
ual force, and stirred vqD the church to greater outward effort and efficacy than it 
had before shown. But he was also of a fiery and somewhat irascible disposi- 
tion, and mixed as freely in the worldly as the spiritual contentions of his time. 
He was a man of strong mental power — a discourse three hours long was not 
an uncommon feat for him ; but whether this habit was in any way the occasion 
of the enactment by the General Court of a law compelling everyone to attend 
meeting, is not stated. But a similar habit on the part of his predecessor was 
the occasion of this c^uaint paragraph in the Journal of Obadiah Turner, one of 
the early lights of Lynn : 

" Allen Bridges hath bin chose to wake ye sleepers in meeting, and being much proud of his 
place, must needs have a fox taile fixed to ye end of a long staff, wherewith he may brush ye faces 
of them yt will have napps in time of discourse; likewise a sharpe thorne, wherewith he may prick 
such as be most sounde. On ye laste Lord his day, as hee strutted about ye meeting-house, hee did 
spy Mr. Tomlins sleeping with much comforte, hys head kept steadie by being in ye corner, and hys 
hand grasping ye rail. And so spying, Allen did quicklie thrust his staff behind Dame Ballard, and 
give hjm a grievous prick upon ye hand. Whereupon Mr. Tomlins did spring vpp mch above ye 
floore, and with terrible force strike with hys hand against ye wall, and also, to ye great wonder of 




26 LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 

all, prophainlie exclaime in a loude voice : 'Cuss ye woodchuck; ' he dreaming, as it seemed, yt a 
woodchufk had seized and bit his hand. But on comeing to know where he was and ye great 
scandall he had committed, he seemed much abashed, but did not speake. And I think he will not 
soone againe go to sleepe in meeting. Ye women may sometimes sleepe, and none know it by 
reason of their enormous bonnets. Mr. Whiting doth pleasantlie say yt from ye pulpit, he doth 
seeme to be preaching to stacks of straw, with men sitting here and there among them." 

In 16S3, following the example of their neighbors round about, the people 
of Lynn succeeded in perfecting their title to their lands, by deed from the heirs 
of the original Indian proprietors. This deed is recorded at Salem. It is a 
long and curious document, abounding in surplusage and legal redundancies, 
on account of which, possibly because few people could unravel their meaning, 
such documents were thought to be all the more binding. This deed conveyed 
all the interest wdiich David Kunkshamooshaw and Abigail, his wife, Cicely, 
better known as Su George, and James Qiionopohit — the sole surviving heirs of 
Nanapashemet — held in the territory of Lynn and Nahant. The signatures of 
David and Abigail seem to be rude representations of a bow and arrow. The 

third signature is that of Cicely. James signed his name in full, after the manner 
of white men. The last is the sign manual of ISIary Fonham, his wife. The 
settlers attached much importance to the Indian deeds, but vSir Edmund .Vndros, 
th2 English governor, professed the greatest contempt for them, likening them 
to scratches of a bear's claw, and by an arLitraryexerci.se of his power, endeav- 
ored to set aside the deed of Nahant in favor of his secretary, Edward Randolph, 
wdio had coveted the peninsula. The spirit with which his purpose was resisted 
by the settlers taught him the useful lesson that in this country the government 
is no stronger than the popular will, and that the ruler wdio undertakes to breast 
public opinion, right or wrong, has a wearisome, and possibly a dangerous, 
course to follow. Randolph persisted in his claim, and finally, finding himself 
vigorously opposed by Oliver Purchis, lost his temper, and attempted to cut off 
the ears of his opponent. This was more than the settlers could endure, and 
headed by Parson Shepherd, they hunted Randolph to Boston, and made it 
desirable for that individual to look elsewhere for a summer residence. From 
that day to this Nahant has continued to be the queen of seaside resorts, but the 
later invasions from Boston have been of a more peaceful and desirable char- 
acter. So the century passed away, and gradually the turmoils of its later years 
subsided, and the lives of the people moved on in straighter lines. In 171 3 
Lynnfield was set off as a separate towm, and two years later a meeting-house 
was built. In all the early New England settlements the meeting-house was the 
center of influence and power. The building of a meeting-house and the settle- 
ment of a minister was insisted upon as a necessary preliminary to the recogni- 
tion of a new municipality. If law and public policy could have made a people 
as a whole religious and God-fearing, our ancestors M'ould have been entitled to 
canonization. Possiblv some of them are, for what they did accomplish. 



^SAUGUSr IS CALLED LINJ 



27 



Farming continued to Le the cliief occupation of the settlers. There were 
a few tanneries, and in 1760 the manufacture of shoes had begun to receive 
considerable attention. Some skilled workmen in the line of ladies' shoes had 
come to the town from England, and they had imparted their skill to the home 
workmen, so that in 1764 The Boston Gazette records the fact that "the 
women's shoes made at Lynn do now exceed those usually imported, both in 
strength and beauty, but not in price" — a standard always since lived up to — 
and in 176S it is stated that So, 000 pairs of shoes were made in Lynn the 
previous year. The foundation of our subsequent prosperity was tlien laid. 
Good work at a fair price was the motto, and in all the achievements of the later 
years this has been the governing principle. 

The occurrences which led up to the War of the Revolution were full of 
interest and excitement for the citizens of Lynn. No less than the I3ostonians 
did they resent the oppressions and exactions of the English Government. 
Some of her citizens participated in the Boston tea-party, and all joined with 
ithfulness in the crusade which was declared against all taxetl tea. 
At a meeting on the i6th of December, 1773, it was, 
among other things, resolved, "That we highly disapprove of 
the landing and selling of such teas in America, and will not 

surter any teas, subjected to 
a parliamentary dut)', to be 
landed or sold in this town ; 
and that we stand ready to 
assist our brethren in Bos- 
tcni or elsewhere, whenever 
our aid shall be required, 
in repelling all attempts to 
land or sell any teas pois- 
oned with a iDarliamentary 

SKETCH ON WALNUT STREET. dutv " 

There is little occasion to question the meaning of this declaration, and the 
people were as good as their word. It became known that Mr. James Bowler, 
on Water Hill, had a cjuantity of tea in store. A committee of ladies immedi- 
ately waited upon him, demanded the tea, and destroyed it. The independent 
spirit of the mothers has been transmitted to their descendants, and the actors 
in this first American boycott planted seeds which still flourish in our soil. 
Holmes asserts that 

"The waters of the rebel bay 

Have kept their tea-leaf savor; 
Our old North Enders in their spray 
Still taste a Hyson flavor." 

And the same spirit wliich led our ancestors to unite to resist an arbitrary and 
unjust tax still bands our people together to combat any real or fancied attempt 
at oppression. 

The following year the port of Boston was closed, by order of the English 
Government. Then tlie storm clouds rapidly gathered. The people of Lvnn 
made common cause with those of the surrounding towns. Couriers constantly 




28 LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 

passed back and forth between Concord, Salem and Boston, and a company of 
Lynn minute men assisted at the reception given the English regulars at Lexing- 
ton — four of whom were killed in the fight, and several more were wounded. 
Among the latter was Timothy Munroe, who had one ball through his leg, and 
thirty-two bullet-holes through his clothes and hat. Active measures were taken 
for carrying on the war, which all now perceived was inevitable. A Commit- 
tee of Safety, consisting of Rev. John Treadwell, pastor of the First Church, 
and Rev. Joseph Roby, of the Lynnfield parish, and Deacon Daniel Mansfield, 
was appointed. Guards were stationed on Sagamore Hill, Shepard street, and 
the crossing at the Saugus River, and no one was suffered to pass out of town 
without permission. Arms were carried to meeting on the Sabbath, and it is 
recorded that the minister appeared with his powder-horn under one arm and 
his sermon under the other, and stood his musket at one side of the pulpit when 
he rose to begin the service. A company of minute men was formed, which 
took part in the battle of Bunker Hill. In the long and terrible war which fol- 
lowed, Lynn fui-nished her quota of men and means, and bore with patriotic 
fortitude the privations, hardships and disappointments of that trying time. 
One hundred and sixty-eight of her citizens were in the Continental Army, of 
whom fifty-two men were lost, besides the four men killed at Lexington. 

The years succeeding the war were devoted to retrieving the losses and 
repairing the waste of that long struggle. With the exception of the ripple 
caused by Shay's Rebellion in 17S7, there were no clouds in the political hori- 
zon until iSoS, when the Embai-go brought all sorts of commercial activity to a 
standstill, and reduced all manufacturing interests to a low ebb. A majority of 
the people were Democrats, and upheld the General Government in its policy, 
though not without a vigorous protest from their Federalist neighbors. Again, 
in 181 2, the naval war with England seriously checked all business for a time. 
As was their wont, the citizens of Lynn were alive to the contest. A privateer 
was fitted out, which sent home three prizes, and generally the feelings of the 
people were keyed up to the fighting pitch. The frequent successes of the 
Yankee tars and their impromptu fleet had caused the people to regard them as 
well-nigh invincible. One of the songs of the day ran : 

"I often have been told 

That the British seamen bold 
Could beat the tars of France so neat and handy O. 

But they never found their match 

Till the Yankees did them catch, 
For the Yankee tars for fighting are the dandy O. 

It was, therefore, with great expectation of a glorious victory that the people 
lined the heights of Nahant on the first day of June, 1813, to witness the battle 
between the British ship Shannon and the American brig Chesapeake. They 
were doomed to a bitter disappointment, for after a short and spirited contest 
Capt. Lawrence of the Chesapeake fell, her colors were lowered, and the people 
sadly watched the Shannon depart with her prize for Halifax. 

At last the treaty of peace brought an end to hostilities, and the people 
once again turned their attention to their ordinary peaceful pursuits. Farming 
and shoemaking continued the chief occupations of the people. Attempts were 



^SAUGUST IS CALLED LIN. 



29 



made, from time to time, to inaugurate otlier industries, but eitlier the place or 
the people were not suited to them. Several tanneries were in operation from 
1830 to 1830, but by 1S33 these were all discontinued, it being possible to pur- 
chase leather in Philadelphia cheaper than it could be manufactured here. In 
1819 the sea-serpent made a reconnaisance of our shores, much to the consterna- 
tion of the people, and in 1S34 a visit from General Lafayette was the occasion 
of a great demonstration. Five years later the community was convulsed by the 
anti-masonry excitement, and for several years the opponents of that ancient 
order held complete control of municipal affairs. Scarcely had the public inter- 
est in this controversy liegun to die away when abolition became a burnin;^ 
question. In the early days many slaves had been owned in Lvnn, but at tlie 
opening of the Revolution all that were tlien held here were given their freedom. 
From that time onward there had been a marked and oftentimes outspoken 
opposition to the institution of slavery among the people, and in 1S32 the Lynn 
Anti-Slavery vSociety was formed. This organization soon became noted for its 
advanced opinions, and its boldness in expressing them. Frequent meetings 
and discussions were held, and the silverv voice of Phillips and the burning 
eloquence of Garrison were often heard here in behalf of the southern slave. 
Old Town Hall was frequently , 
the scene of exciting occurrences, 
but probably no more spirited -r 
gathering ever met ^\■ithin its 
Avails than was called together 
on the 5th of October, 1S50, the 
occasion being the passage bv 
Congress of the Fugitive vSlave 
Law. The measure was de- 
nounced in the most imsparing 
manner, and those who had taken, 
prominent part in the enactment 

, , 11 1 1 ULU IU..I4 n-iLL. 

ot the law were called In* name 

and roundlv castigated. The resolutions adopted by the meeting were charac- 
teristic of our people, and breathed the uncompi-omising hatred of oppression 
and love of liberty which, seventy-five years before, had led their fathers into 
reliellion. Following is one of the resolutions adopted at the meeting, which 
shows the temper of the people : 

Resolved, That, since Gud hath commanded us to " bewray not him that wandereth," and 
since, our fathers being \\itnesses, every man's right to liberty is self-evident, we see no way of 
avoiding the conclusion of Senator Seward, that " it is in violation of the divine law to surrender 
the fugitive slave who takes refuge at our firesides;" and in view of this, as well as the notorious 
fact that the slave power has constantly trampled under foot the Constitution of the United States 
to secure its own extension or safety, and especially of the open, undisguised and acknowledged 
contempt of that instrument with which the slave states kidnap our colored citizens travelling south 
and imprison our colored seamen, we, in obedience to Gods law, and in self-defense, declare that. 
Constitution or no C<jnstitution, law or no law, with jury trial or without, the slave who has once 
breathed the air and touched the soil of Massachusetts shall never be dragged back to bondage. 

Other large meetings were held in various parts of the Commonwealth, and 
such a fire of indignation was kindled that a Legislature was chosen which 




3Q LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 

made such provisions that the operation of the law was seriously obstructed and 
Massachusetts nullification became the theme of many a hery bouthern orator . 

It was on Fayette street where Edmund In- " ~ ' ' 

galls built his humble cottage, in the shade of 
some of the old giants of the forest. A small 
natural clearing formed the beginnings of his 
husbandry, and the sweet waters of Lake Wenu- 
chus supplied both his family and his flocks. 
This cot long since gave way to a more preten- 
tious edifice, and the outlines of the farm have 
been lost in the network of streets which com- 
pose that section of the city. It is two centuries 
since the sturdy Puritan sought repose in the 
bosom of his foster-mother. Lynn would doubt- 
less have been sought out and settled, had not 
Edmund Ingalls first selected this as the place of 
his abode ; but who shall say how much of our 
pvesent permanence and prosperity we owe to 
the steady courage and fervent piety of our first 
citizen, whose blood has flowed down through 
successive generations in an ever-widening stream 
until, in our own day, his name is borne by half 
a hundred of our citizens ? It was on the corner 
of Essex and Chestnut streets that John Wood 
built his modest dwelling. His house was long 
since demolished and his f^irm sub-divided, but 
his name became engrafted upon the locality 
which will be known as Woodend as long as 
Lvnn c.Mitinues a city. Joseph Armitage, who 
came here in 1630, cleared a tarm on the north 
side of the Common, his land extending from 
Mall street to Strawberry Brook. The Common 
was then a forest and somewhat swampy, with a 
shallow brook crossing it. Mr. Armitage after- 
ward opened the Anchor Tavern, situated in 
Saugus, on the carriage road to Boston. For 
oneliundred and seventy years this was the most 
celebrated hostelry in Essex County, and it 
counted among its guests many of the noted men 
of the time. Another of the early settlers whose 
name has become inseparably connected with the 
city was Allen Breed, or Bread, as the custom of 
that early time had it. His farm was on Sum- 
mer street, near the Western Avenue, and from 

him that section was early known as Breed's ^ 

End. Samuel Graves, whose possessions lay west of the Floating Bridge, is 
the third of the Lynn immortals, that locality being yet called Gravesend, 




'SAUGUST IS CALLED LIN. 



31 



though modern usage is gradually changing thi 
In iS 



- -_. to the more musical Glenmerc. 

^it IS mentioned that there were only seventeen buildings of l)rick in 
Lvnn, and only six of any material above t^v-o 
stories in height. The dwellings throughout the 
town had an average value of $500. These 
buildings were scattered along sixty streets, and 
not near enough together but that each family 
had plenty of breathing space. ^larket street 
was largely given up to dwellings, though here 
and there a shoe shop or tannery gave variety to 
the scene. The cuts on this and the preceding 
page give a faithful picture of Market street as it 
was in 1S20. Referring to the numbers, i is 
now Sea street, 3 Timothy Allev, 3 ^Ym. 
Richards, 4 Viall's slaughter-house, c; F. S. 
& H. Newhall's morocco factory, 6 Winthrop 
Newhall's tannery, 7 water trough, 8 Benj. 
Alley, 9 and 10 Solomon Alley, 11 Richard 
Pratt, 13 Pelatiah Purington, 13 J„hn Alley, 
Jr., 14 now Summer street, 15 James Alley, 
'6 Simeon Breed, 17 Dr. Lummus, iS 



to ^Li 
street. 



ii 



nmus, i>N Capt. 
iams, 30 and 
shoe shop, 22 



- tH Jos. Mudge, 19 Jerusha Wil 
^ 31 Stephen Smith's house and 

^ Gamaliel W. Oliver's shoe shop and house 

2 in this shop William Lloyd Garrison worked 

o shoemaking for some time — 33 J. B. Ingalls, 

^ g 34 Rev. Enoch Mudge, 25 Methodist meeting- 

w house, " The Bowery," now Lee Hall. These 

^ cuts were made from reliable data, and are said 

^ by those who survive that time to he a correct 

' p representation of things as they were then. The 

g only building of that time now standing is close 

^ by the railroad. It is not shown in the cut, 

being on the opposite side of the street. It was 

then used as a morocco factory, and close bv it 

was a creek through which the tides flowed in 

and out of what is now Harrison Court. A 

^ stone culvert spanned this stream just below 

where now the railroad crossing is. 

Up to this time the town had probably not 
I changed very much in the matter of its streets 

for a century or more. In the center of the town 
it had JMarket street, Liberty street, Spruce street 
— now a part of Washington — Sea street, Front 
street — now that part of Broad from Exchange 
•ket — I'nion street. Pine street — now Exchange — Spring street, Broad 
Further east were Broad, Nahant, Lewis, Chestnut, Fayette, Olive, 



32 



LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 



Mason, Orange, Essex, Pearl and High streets. In the western part of the 
town were Pleasant, Shepard, Summer, Commercial, Elm, North and South 
Common, Franklin and Franklin avenue. Turnpike — now Western avenue — 
Boston, North Shepard, Mall, Center and Federal streets. Nahant street led to 
Nahant over the beach; there being no road, the tides were watched to know 
when the long beach could be used for travel. Lewis street led to Swampscott 
and into Humphrey street, and a cart road extended on through the farms to 
Marblehead. Essex street led from Woodend to Salem, with no cross streets. 
All other parts of Lynn were in wood or pasture lands, or farms, and there 
was no house south of Nahant and Bi'oad streets, nor east of Nahant, Broad 
and Lewis streets. The lands between Lewis, Fayette and Essex streets, also 
between Essex, Orange, Chestnut and the Turnpike, also south of Summer and 
Commeixial streets, were used as farms or pastures. Around the southwest 








OLD ANCHOR TAVERN. 

corner of Union and Exchange streets ran a stone wall, and on the opposite 
corner stood the Keene homestead. Through a culvert under what is now 
Central square flowed a stream of pure, cool water, from springs under the 
present Central Station. It formed a muddy, grassv brook which ran down 
Union street to where the Ingalls building now is, then turned and flowed 
through the gardens of Jonathan Connor and William D. Thompson, across 
Broad street to the sea. In the brook near Earl's new building was sunk a tub, 
where the neighbors watered their cows. Nearly all the principal families 
owned a cow, and if they had no pasture, they hired or owned what was called 
a " cow lease," or right to pasture a cow in Rocks Pasture or on Nahant. 
Where Goldthwait's stable now is was a hill, on the summit of which was a 



SAUGUST IS CALLED LIN.'^ 



two-Story house, the cellar of which must have been much above the roof of the 
present stable. Half-way down the hill was an old-foshioned well, with curb, 
sweep and an old oaken bucket. The stone wall extended up the south side of 
Union street for a short distance to the house of Farmer Silsbee, where Welch 
& Cummings' store now is. The one-story house of George Todd stood oppo- 
site Pearl street. From this point the stone wall extended most of the way to 
Woodend. A stone wall marked the site of the Sagamore House, and from 
Pearl street a wall extended nearly to the burying-ground. Where the East 
Baptist Church is, and beyond, was called Smith's field, and where Ireson street 
is was called Qiiaker Pasture — a decided contrast to the modern, busy, thron^*-- 
ing Union street. There were no Beach, Baltimore, Atlantic, Ocean, or 
other cross streets in that section, nor any Silsbee, Green, Ireson, Rockaway, 
Washington, Willow, Munroe, Oxford, Andrew or Johnson streets, and only 
five or six cross streets from the Common. There were formerly salt works 
near the foot of S. N. Breed's wharf, with a windmill to pump the water into 
tanks for evaporation ; and where the engine-house is was a small beach called 
" Water Side." Where Central avenue and Willow street are was a cow p;!s- 
ture, and Almont street was given over to brick-yards. At the foot of Nahant 
street was a fence, with a gate, to keep the cows from returning home too early. 
The last decade of this period of our history is full of events of great 
importance as bearing on the future of the town. First, in 1S38, came the 
Eastern Railroad, pushing its way north and east — first to Salem, and then 
onward toward Portland. The projectors of the railroad were men of courage 
and foresight. The science of railroad building and management, as it is ncnv 
understood, was an unknown quantity, and the tremendous j^ossibilities of the 
steam locomotive undreamed of. They came to Lynn, and calling the promi- 
nent business men together, asked their opinion as to the average number of 
passengers they might expect between Lynn and Boston. After mature delib- 
eration and close calculation, the conclusion was reached that the average might 
reach thirty-eight per day, though one gentleman emphatically dissented, 
saving that "• never in the world will they have so many!" The first station 

was a one-story wooden structure, alxnit 
forty feet long, with a bell on the roof, 
which was rung on the arri\al of each 
train. The first cars were about fifteen 
feet long, and seated twenty-two persons. 
The first locomotives were very crude, 
and had scarcely power enough to draw 
the few coaches in the train. Frequently 
in cold weather, or when facing a high 
the marshes, the trains would 



wind acros 

be compelled to stop to get a head of 
FIRST RAILROAD STATION IN LYNN. gte^^j-j-, sufficient to procccd. That was 

railroading under difficulties. But with the railroad came new life and energy 
into the place, which made itself manifest in the impetus given to business and 
the various new enterprises which sprung into life. The financial panic of 
the previous year, though falling heavily upon many of our manufacturers, 




34 LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 

had served to clear the business atmosphei'e, and brought many young men 
to the front. The era of invention, which has astonished the world by its 
productions, was then just beginning, and the shoemaking industry early began 
to receive its share of attention. A few minor inventions were brought out 
prior to 1850, but they were mostly crude and of little use ; but they began to 
open the way for the great revolution in the methods of shoe nianufacture which 
began ten yeais later. They consisted chiefly in improvements in lasts, and in 
methods of cutting the soles. The styles of boots most commonly made had 
been foxed gaiters, slippers and buskins, but in 1S4S the congress boot was 
invented, which at once came into great favor. The city, in the years 1840 to 
1850, took rapid strides both in population and business, and it began to be felt 
that Lynn had outgrown her town organization. The subject of obtaining a 
city charter was agitated for several years. Finally, on the loth of April, 1850, 
the Legislature granted a charter, and on the 19th it was accepted by the town. 
With this action may be said to end the second period of our history. In our 
brief review we have seen a sparsely-settled colony, planted in a wilderness, 
grow to a busy and prosperous town, with an industrv of sufficient magnitude 
to give employment to thousands of busy workers, and prosperous in a marked 
desrree. 




RED ROCK, LYNN BEACH. 




^nn 



maa^ 



CI" HE legendary history of Lynn forms one of its most fascinating chapters. 
* The limits of this work prevent more than the briefest reference to some 
of the more important of these events, although in number and interest 
they would suflice for a separate volume ; and these naturally find a place 
where the sketches of the to\vn end and those of the city begin. The 

pathetic tale of the Bridal of Pennacook reaches fartliest back into the shadowy 

vista of the past — 

" A story of the marriage of the chief 
Of Saugus to the dusky Weetainoo, 
Daughter of Passaconaway, who dwelt 
In the old time upon the Merrimack/' 

The story, in brief, is that Winnepurkit, as Morton has it, or, more properly, 
Winnepoyekin, son of Nanapashemet, sagamore of .Saugus, when he came to 
man's estate, made choice, for his wife, of the daughter of Passaconaway, the 
great chieftain of the tribes inhabiting the Merrimack valley. Passaconaway 
was not only a mighty chieftain, but, if we may believe the early English 
chronicles of his doings, he was the most accomplished wizard the New World 
ever knew. These learned and reverend writers gravely assert that, so 
skilled was he in the arts of necromancy, he could cause a green leaf to 
grow in winter, trees to dance, water to burn, and numberless things of a like 
marvellous nature, through his mystical invocations. The union of the young 
people was blessed by the great chieftain, and in due time Weetamoo was seated 
in her lord's wigwam on Sagamore Hill, with the broad bay spread out before 
her door, now shining like a burnished mirror in the sun, and then rolling its 
angry waves upon the beach in thunderous monotone, or dashing them upon 
the rocks of Little Nahant. Before long, however, a homesick longing for a 



3G LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 

sight of lier father filled her heart, and like a kind husband, Winnepurkit sent 
her home, escorted by some of his most mighty men. The daughter was re- 
ceived with open arms, and the escort were cordially entertained and graciously 
dismissed. After a short stay she signified a desire to return to her noble 
husband, upon which her father sent messengers to Winnejjurkit to notify him of 
the desire of his wife, and to request the Saugus sachem to dispatch a suitable 
guard to escort his wife back through the wilderness to her home. But here an 
unexpected difficulty arose, for Winnepurkit curtly told the messengers to carry 
word to his father-in-law, " That when his wife departed from him he caused 
his own men to wait upon her to her father's territories, as did become him ; 
but now that she had an intent to return, it did become her father to send her 
back with a convoy of his own people." Both were men of high spirit, and 
neither would yield, and so the poor princess was forced to remain with her 
father, at least for a time. Tradition has it, however, that her woman's wit 
found a way through or around the difficulty, and that she, after a while, made 
her way back to her husband's home. Whittier, however, gives a different and 
tragic ending to the tale. In his poem, the heart-broken Bride of Pennacook 
determines to return alone. She steals away from her attendant maidens, 
launches her frail canoe upon the swollen and threatening Merrimac, and is 
instantlv swept 

" Down the vexed center of that rushing tide, 
The thick, huge ice blocks threatening either side, 
The foam-white rocks of Amoskeag in view, 
With arrowy swiftness — 

Down the white rapids Hke a sere leaf whirled. 
On the sharp rocks and piled-up ices hurled. 
Empty and broken, circled the canoe 
In the vexed pool below, but where was 
Weetamoo?" 



THE PIRATES' GLEN. 

About the year 1656, in the twilight of a pleasant evening, a strange vessel 
was seen to approach the shore oft' the mouth of the Saugus River, where she 
furled her sails and dropped anchor. When the shades of night had fallen, a 
boat was lowered, and four men rowed silently up the rK'er to where it emerges 
from the hills. There they landed and turned into the woods. The strange 
visitors doubtless thought themselves unobserved, but those were perilous times, 
and sharp eyes had followed them. JSIany were the conjectures occasioned by 
these unusual movements. The next morning the settlers rose early to learn 
more of these unannounced visitors, but the stranger-vessel had disappeared, 
and no trace either of her or her singular crew could be found. The occurrence 
was a nine days' wonder among the settlers, but the interest had nearly died out 
when one day a workman at the Iron Works found a paper lying in a conspicu- 
ous place, running to the effect that if a certain quantity of shackles, handcuffs, 
and other articles named, were made and deposited with secrecy in a certain 



LYNX LEGENDS. 37 

place in the woods, an amount of silver equal to their value would be found in 
their stead. The articles were made and deposited as directed, and on the fol- 
lowing morning they had been taken away, and the money left as agreed upon. 
Some months later the four men returned, and selected one of the most secluded 
spots in the woods of Saugus for their abode ; and interest is added to the tale 
by the statement that the pirate chief brought with him a beautiful woman. 
The place of their retreat was a narrow valley shut in on two sides by craggy, 
precipitous rocks, and screened on the other by a thick growth of evero-reens. 
The spot was admirably chosen for concealment and observation as well, for 
from the cliff on the eastern side of this glen a noble expanse of country and sea, 
stretching far toward the south, is spread before the eye. Here the pirates built 
themselves a small hut, and here it is said that the chief's beautiful mistress sick- 
ened and died. After a time the retreat of tlie pirates became noised aliroad. 
Three of them were captured and taken to England, where they suffered the 
penalty of their crimes upon the gibbet. The fourth, Th(Mi)as Veale, escaped, 
and for many years thereafter made his home in a cave in the woods, which the 
band had previously utilized as a storehouse for their treasures. Here he prac- 
ticed the trade of a shoemaker, occasionallv visitinir the Ailla"e to obtain food. 





ASCENT TO DUNGEON ROCK. 

In i6^S an earthquake shook up the settlers in a most alarming manner. 
The entire face of Dungeon Rock was split off, and the cavern forever closed 
up. The legend has it that the pirate was entombed therein, with all his ti'eas- 
ures, and possibly one of the village girls who had mysteriously disappeared 
some months previous. A realistic turn was given to the legend by the declara- 
tion of a certain Joel Dunn, that on the night of the earthquake, during the tre- 
mendous storm which raged, he got lost in the woods at the north of the town, 
and in his wanderings fovmd himself, at the dead of night, at the door of the cav- 
ern. He entered, and found the pirate working by the light of a blazing pine 
knot. Newhall gives a lifelike picture of their interview, which waxed as stormy 



38 LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 

as the weather outside, and the pirate had just grasped his visitor by the throat, 
when the earthquake shock came. Just how it came about is not explained, 
but somehow Joel was not included in the general destruction which followed, 
but was found next morning in a sad state by men from the settlement who, 
alarmed by his non-appearance the night before, had set out to search for him. 
When he had recovered he told his wonderful story, which naturally occasioned 
much wonderment ; but while the people seemed willing to believe the pirate 
Veale was entombed beneath Dungeon Rock, even the grave Mr. Whiting felt 
constrained to say that while he had no doubt that Joel Dunn passed the night 
on which the earthquake occurred, in the woods, it was most likely that a large 
jug which Joel had taken into the woods had been the inspiration of his 
wonderful visions. The treasures thus believed to be buried in the heart of 
Dungeon Rock have never been exhumed, but about forty years since, Hii'am 
Marble, under the direction of spirit mediums, began the search for it. For 
more than a quarter of a century father and son toiled early and late to unlock 
the secret caverns of the cliff, and when they were ready to abandon the work, 
they were again spuri'ed on by some new delusive revelation of the spirits. 
And even when death had released the elder enthusiast from his delusion, the 
son carried on the work as the most sacred of trusts until he, too, died in the 
same fatal delusion. 




^ 



ENTRANCE TO DUNGEON ROCK CAVE. 

A visit to Dungeon Rock is full of interest, not only on account of the 
traditions which surround the locality, but for the natural beauties which are 
revealed on every side. Two miles out from the city, in the heart of the Lynn 
forest, few wilder or more picturesque spots can be found in New England, and 
one can hardly realize that he is scarcely out of sight and sound of the homes 



I.VXN LEGENDS. 



39 






and mart of nearly fifty tliousand people. The ledge on one side is a sheer 
precipice ; the other side, which the road ascends, is less abrupt, and is covered 
with a grove of oak trees, growing among enormous boulders, with which, in 
fact, the whole region abounds. The cave which once existed in the ledoe was 

closed by the great earthquake — to 
doubt the legend, with the evidences all 
around you, would be folly — and some 
avaricious vandal has blown out the 
remains of the entrance in the vain hope 
of finding out the well-kept secret of 
: the clift". The entrance to the excava- 
tion made by the Marbles, fother and son, 
is barred by a grating, not specially sug- 
gestive of aught piratical, or in any way 
uncanny, the open sesame to which is a 
quarter in hand, paid to the pleasant 
appearing lady, sister of the younger 
Marble, who is now the presiding genius 
of the locality. The key turns with a 
creak in the rusty lock, and the door 
opens outward with a groan. The de- 
scent into the tunnel is first b}' a series 
of rickety steps, then by such foothold 
as one is fortunate enough to gain on 
the slippery rock. The entire gallery 
is about one hundred and fifty feet in 
length, descending in its course some 
forty feet. On account, however, of the 
zig-zag direction which the often-amend- 
ed revelations of the spirits marked out, the rock is not actually penetrated more 
than one hundred feet. The formation is porphyry, as hard as adamant, and 
without seam or break to indicate that a cavern ever existed there or thereabouts ; 




'o^'^/i^/'^civ'^' 



and one is compelled to the opinion 

rected the operations must have 

IDrenticeshlp in some of the \\ dd- 

west. But scarcely has our 

sert it when it is again cha" 

of the relics of the pirates 

tainer, tucked in cran- 

sheath looks as though ^ 

and the knife has a sutfi- 

thirsty appearance to suit 

What is left of the scissors 

look, but the old anvil brings us back 

practical things. For no matter how 




that the spirits who di- 

served their earthly ap- 

cat enterprises of the wild 

incredulity begun to as- 

lenged by the production 

found, so says our enter- 

nies of the rock. The 

it had done hard sei-vice, 

ciently piratical, blood- 

the most fastidious. 

has a more modern 

to the days of hard, 

legend and story may 



people the rocks and grottoes of the neighborhood with strange personages and 
shapes, or fill the hollows of the clift with shining gold and precious gems and jew- 



40 



LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 



els ; regardless wholly of the phantom guides who promise to show the path to the 
hidden treasures ; the old anvil brings us to a realization of the fact that the path 
can be gained by mortals, and the treasures secured, only by hard blows with ma- 
terial implements. Judging from the nature of the rock, both father and son must 
have spent fully as much time at the anvil as in the tunnel. After all, the 
history of the experiences of 
hidden treasure of Dungeon 



.. Always 
convinced 
their 



story of most live 

coveted blessing 

will bring it within 

thwarted again and again, 

that success will come — how 

and gone to their rest with 

realized ! But there is no 

thanking our guide for her 

thoroughly satisfied with our 

ever in love with Lynn and her surroundings. 




the Marbles in search of the 
Rock reads much like the 
almost within reach of the 
that one more strong effort 
grasp ; disappointed and 
yet still buoyed with hope 
many have lived their day 
their dearest expectation vm- 
time for moralizing. So, 
attention, we return to Lynn 
excursion, and more than 



THE TREASURE OF PINES POINT. 

There has ever been a peculiar interest attaching to tales of wonder or 
adventure wherein pirates and their exploits form an important element. The 
New World, with its many unexplored bays and safe harbors, which had so 
hospitabl}' received the early settlers, was supposed by them to be also in high 
favor, as a safe rendezvous, with the black-haired, blood-thirsty gentry who 
roamed the seas, collecting tribute of all nations. Upon our headlands they set 
their watch, and held high revelry after their successful ventures. Their meth- 
ods of making money wei^e not so gentlemanly or refined as those of some of 
our modern financiers, but were quite as honest, and the banks of dejoosit which 
they selected have never failed, nor their cashiers taken vacations in the peniten- 
tiary or Canada. Had Capt. Kyd endowed all the localities with which tradi- 
tion has credited him, his wealth must have been marvellously great, and his 
methods a step in advance of any system of stock watering or manipulation 
since devised. Longfellow has invested the old stone tower of Newport with a 
halo of romance. Thither, says his Skeleton in Armor, 

"Three weeks we westward bore, 
And when the storm was o'er, 
Cloud-Uke we saw the shore 

Stretching to leeward; 
There, for my lady's bower. 
Built I the lofty tower 
Which, to this very hour. 

Stands looking seaward." 

The fact that this tower was built by the first settlers and used as a windmill 
detracts nothing from the interest of the legend, and it is possible that many, 
if not most, other legends which tell of mysterious visitations of jDirates and 



LYNN LECiEXDS. 



41 



secreting of treasure which they never came to reclaim ha\e as slender a foun 
dation as the instance named. Nevertheless, in the time when the Old Anchu 
Tavern, or the " Blew Ankor," as its early title was, constituted the half-wa^ 
house between Boston and Salem, and around whose crack- 
ling fire the travellers and idlers used to meet to exchange 1 . 
yarns, there was a belief held by many tliat the pirate crew, \ 
whose craft so mysteriously appeared off the mouth of the 
Saugus River, had buried a chest of gold beneath a flat stone 
at the roots of a tree at Pines Point, as it was then known. On 
many a dark night might the solitary treasure-seeker have been 
seen groping among 
the trees with his 
lantern and spade, 
vainly searching for 
the hidden doub- 
loons, but the barren 
point would not give 
up its secret. 

But one night a 
party was made up 
at the Anchor Tav- 
ern to make a final ^, ^^ 
search for the covet- s^^^WM^I 
ed treasure. New- f'.'^'l'^^^ 
hall, in his Jewels 
of the Third Planta- 
tion, gives the only 
account of this enter- 
prise we have seen. 
The night agreed 
upon was fair, and a 

bright moon shed her favoring beams upon them. David Kunkslianiooshaw, 
a mighty ^vizard, and skilled with the divining rod, was one of the party. 
They made the journey to the point in the early evening. The action of the 
hazel rods in the hands of David was satisfactory in the extreme. Then he pro- 
ceeded, with his incantations, to charm away the evil spirits, who, he solemnly 
averred, would combine to prevent them from accomplishing their object, and a 
circle was drawn around the spot where the hazel rods had indicated the treasure 
was concealed, over which the spirits could not go to do them injury. He then 
charged them not to utter a word, even in whispers, for if they did, their 
whole labor would come to naught, though by keeping within the ring 
they might escape bodily harm. The work then began, and in due time they 
came upon the flat stone which they knew covered the treasure-chest. Just 
as they began working around it, there came a tremendous gust of wind 
sweeping down over the beach with such fury that they were nearly blown 
from their feet and outside the circle. But they recovered from their momentary 
fright, and resumed operations. A stout lever was adjusted, and they were just 




42 LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 

giving a vigorous heave at the stone, when an astounding neigh, as of a horse 
on the very bound of the circle, sounded in their ears. The lever dropped from 
their grasp, but as they peered around nothing could be seen, and at the woi"d 
from David, who constantly perambulated the circle, making wild gesticula- 
tions, they again plied the lever, and the ponderous stone began to move from 
its bed. Soon the edge was high enough so that one of them, holding down 
his lantern and peering eagerly into the darkness beneath, declared he saw the 
corner of the long-sought-for iron chest. This stimulated them to renewed 
effort, and in a moment more their dreams would have been fulfilled, but a most 
astounding circumstance occurred, which is told in the graphic language of 
Judge Newhall : 

''At that critical moment there came another awful gust of wind, but this 
time from over the water, saturating their clothing with salt spray, almost blind- 
ing them, and setting everything whirling again. Then was heard the heavy 
tread of a rapidly advancing horse. On, on, he dashed, in headlong fury, out 
into the moonlight — a gigantic courser, with flaring tail erect and long mane 
waving and curling in the breeze ; snorting and prancing in the most threaten- 
ing manner. Astride his back, without saddle or bridle, hatless, and with hair 
streaming in lank locks about his shoulders, sat a man of giant form and grace- 
less mein, a hideous grin playing about his toothless mouth. On, on he rushed 
with unabated fury, directly toward the petrified group. But the instant he 
reached the charmed circle his progress was arrested. Not .a hoof could pass 
the magic bound ; the desperate rearings, plungings and snortings of the horse, 
nor the fiery glaring and spurring of the rider, could avail. But in that alarm- 
ing attitude of affairs the affrighted diggers could not continue their work, 
and their tools fell from their paralyzed hands. Things remained thus 
for some minutes ; and then began a frantic race around the circle, the distance 
narrowing at every turn. Just on the verge the furious beast wheeled and 
reared and plunged, as if determined to dash across in spite of fate itself. David 
now for the first time showed signs of terror. With fiery eyes and hissing 
breath the fiery steed poised himself on his hind feet, while his rider in stentorian 
voice vociferated : ' By my blood, what do ye here.' ye are well set to work 
filching my gold, hard earned upon the sea by dagger and by fire. But the devil 
will yet save his own, I wot. Aroynt ye, or bear a pirate's malediction.' The 
ponderous hoofs were quivering almost directly over the head of David, who 
had stepped forth to see there was no break in the ring, when, thrown suddenly 
oft' his guard, with trembling lips he gave utterance to a propitiatory ejaculation 
in these imploring words of his euphonious native tongue : — ahquonlamannean 
nummatcheseongask ; poliquohwussinnean. In an instant, down came the 
hoofs, almost upon his head ; and then rang the exulting laugh of the rider out 
over the sea ; and the wild neigh of the horse was louder still. The spell was 
broken and there was no longer a charm-protected bound. They pranced within 
the ring without restraint ; the stone fell back over the chest ; the aftrighted dig- 
gers scattered for dear life. The triumphant horse and his rider, having acom- 
plished their purpose, sped off' among the trees, the one whinnying and the other 
laughing till the old woods resounded with the weird clamor." 



LVXX LEGENDS. 43 

This was enough. Treasure-seeking at the point became unpopular, and 
there is no record of any subsequent attempt to locate or unearth the hidden 
treasure. There has been a great change in the appearance of the point and the 
surrounding marshes since that memorable night, but it may be a pleasant di- 
version some fine summer day to undertake to locate the spot where the chest of 
gold as really lies buried now as it ever did. 




t^AD LEDGE, SWAMPSl^ 










naMe^ 



^aswn^ 



DURING the first tvveiity-five years, the colonists of New England managed 
^^ their affairs both civil and religious entirely in their own way, and doubt- 
I I less much to their own satisfoction. Nearly, if not quite, all of those who 
"^ came hither from England prior to the death of Charles Stuart did so to 
Y gain greater freedom in their religious opinions and practices. They 
came, many of them, from the best-educated, property-owning classes, who, 
being hindered from worshiping God according to the dictates of their con- 
sciences, at home, resolutely, and of their own accord, sought asylum in the 
New World. Under the royal patent, those named therein came into absolute 
control of the territory covered by it, subject only to the claims of the aboriginal 
proprietors, and the several towns acquired a like title under the grants from the 
original patentees. 

Matters of religion, especially the organization of a church and the settle- 
ment of a minister, became questions of immediate concern, for it was because 
of their religion, and their regard for their religious teachers, that they had left 
their former pleasant homes to end their days in the wilderness. Matters of 
purely civil administration received only secondary attention during the early 
3^ears of the colony, being, for the most part, provided for in the administration 
and organization of the church. What seems to us a strange and unreasonable 
regulation, because of the changed circumstances of our time, that everyone 
should be taxed for the support of the church, and that no one should vote who 
was not a church member, was the natural thing for them to do, because ninety- 
nine persons out of every hundred were members of the church. The charter 
of the colony in no respect resembled the Constitution under which we live ; 
it was, on the contrary, that of a trading company — a close corporation which 
had the technical right to expel any person whose presence was deemed preju- 
dicial to the interests of the comjDany in general. Having been persecuted for 
their religion at home, they naturally sought, in establishing their own religious 
system, to throw around it every safeguard and influence to maintain Its suprem- 



(^)UAKER INVASION. 45 

acy and secure its permanence. Their troubles at home liad arisen from a con- 
flict of beliefs ; therefore they would pre\-cnt a recurrence of similar troubles in 
their new home by shutting the door tight against all who would not unreserv- 
edly subscribe to their system. 

Their plan was, in a certain narrow and technical sense, just, and would 
doubtless have been a good one if it could ha\e been made to work. The ob- 
stacle to its success lay in their inability to control the thoughts and consciences 
of all their own people, and the extent of their coast line, which precluded 
perfect police supervision of all new-comers. The obstacles were not at first 
apparent, and where there was such a will to carry out their ideas, with a man 
like Gov. Endicott in authority, seconded by an exceptionally able Court of 
Assistants, there was certain to be devised ways and means. 

The events attending upon the preaching of George Fox, and the methods 
by which the English authorities attempted to check the new religious move- 
ment, had not been unnoted in the Massachusetts colony ; and with a singular 
seeming forgetfulness of the trials they themselves had passed through, the 
English Puritans were quite as fierce in their denunciations of the new sect as 
the authorities of the Estal^lishment, and lent readv countenance to the persecu- 
tion which was at once raised against it. And the IMassachusetts authorities 
were in full sympathy with their English cousins in regarding Qiiakerism as a 
dangerous heresy to be combatted by all means. T!ie Friends on the other side 
had endured enough persecution to raise the zeal of the leaders to the point of 
enthusiasm, and it was not long before some of their number felt called to testify 
for their faith in the New World. 

The first Qiiakers of note to arrive in Boston were Marv Fisher and Ann 
Austin. They came in 1653, though it appears that for two years several fami- 
lies of that faith hid dwelt unmolested in the Plymouth colonv, and that a few 
had settled hi Lvnn and Salem. Both were women of mark, having sufiered 
imprisonment and scourging for their foith in England. They found the Massa- 
chusetts authorities readv to receive them. They were promptly injprisoned, 
their books publicly burned, and by the first departing vessel were sent back to 
England, the jailer keeping their beds and Bibles for his fees. Eight more who 
subsequently arrived were similarly treated, and at the next session of the court 
a law was enacted forbidding all masters of vessels from bringing Qiiakers into 
this jurisdiction, and threatening any Friends who might come, with the House 
of Correction. This had no effect to deter them from coming, but, on the con- 
ti"arv, only served to inflame the missionary zeal of the Qiiaker propagandists. 
The following year a number of Friends, men and women, landed in Boston. 
Thev received equally prompt attention as their predecessors, and several of 
them were accorded the additional courtesy of twenty stripes on the bare back 
with a whip of three cords, knotted at the ends to give point and pungency to 
the proceedings. During the succeeding years the whipping-post was one of 
the busiest of our public institutions. Some of those who had been sent away 
having returned, the following order was issued by the Court : 

"To the Marshall-General or his deputy: You are to take with you the 
executioner, and repair to the House of Correction, and there see him cut oft' the 
right ears of John Copeland, Christopher Holder and John Rouse, Qiiakers, 



46 LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 

in execution of tlie sentence of the Court of Assistants, for the breach of the law 
entitled Qiiakers. 

Edward Rawson, 

Secretary. 
And the older was carried out to the letter ; but even these harsh measures failed 
of the desired effect. Not only were the English Quakers stirred to greater 
zeal, but murmurings against the severity of the punishments began to be heard 
among the colonists, and it was found that many of them had adopted the Quaker 
belief, these being specially numerous in the vicinity of Lynn and Salem, so that 
the government had not only those who came hither to look after, but also an 
uncomfortable number planted upon the soil, who were every whit as firm in 
their faith as the magistrates in their determination to root out Qiiakerism. 
Lynn and Salem early became a center of the Qtiaker influence. Refusing to 
perform military service or to pay church rates, they suffered many indignities, 
and had their cattle, corn, hay and domestic furniture distrained for payment. 
Mention is made in the Friends' records of George Oaks, who appears to have 
been one of the first Quakers in Lynn, the entry being : " Taken away for the 
priest, Samuel Whiting, one cow, valued at £3." The good minister seems 
not to have despised the cow, though his estimate of the Quakers is given. In 
enumerating the evils with which the people of New England have to contend, 
he remarks that "it is cause for humiliation that our sins have exjDosed us to live 
among such wicked sinners," among whom he ranks " atheists and Qiiakers." 
It has been understood among Friends that the first Friends' meetings in this 
vicinity were held in a house on what is called the old road to Salem, and near 
the Lynn mineral spring farm ; composed of those from Salem and Lynn who 
had adopted the Friends' belief. But while these things had been going on in 
Lynn, (he authorities in Boston had no end of trouble. The whippings, 
imprisonments and maimings to which the Quakers were subjected at length 
roused the genuine martyr spirit in not a few, who felt that they could render 
no better service to their religion than to come to New England and protest 
against the persecutions of their sect. Accordingly in 1658 the General Court 
passed a law banishing all incoming Qiiakers " on pain of death." This severe 
legislation was not passed unanimously. Very many of the Court had begun to 
doubt the wisdom of the course that was being pursued, and the measure had 
only a majority of one in a vote of twenty-five. The details for the enforcement 
of the statute included summary arrest and imprisonment without bail until the 
next term of Court. Scarcely was the ink dry on the parchment when William 
Robinson and Marmaduke Stevens, with Mary Dyer and Nicholas Davis, arrived 
in Boston. They were arrested, and a decree of banishment issued against 
them. The two latter obeyed for a time, but Robinson and Stevens came 
directly to Lynn and Salem, where they commenced active evangelistic work. 
But the authorities soon learned their whereabouts, and they were re-arrested. 
The following month Mary Dyer returned boldly to Boston, and was immedi- 
ately secured. In due season the fated trio were taken before the Court, tried, 
and sentence of death passed upon them. On the 27th of October they were 
led away to execution. Robinson and Stevens were hanged first, but as the 
rope was being adjusted about the neck of Mary Dyer, a reprieve was received,. 



QUAKER INVASION. 



47 



and she was sent to her home in Rhode Ishmd. The next summer found her 
agahi in Boston. She was taken before the Court, and the sentence reafhrmed. 
Being asked why she had returned, she said: "I came, in obedience to the 
will of God, to the last General Court, desiring ^ou to repeal your unrighteous 
laws of banishment on pain of death ; and that same is mv work now, and 
earnest request ; although I told you that if you refused to repeal them, the Lord 
would send others of His servants to witness against them." This time there 
was no reprieve, and she died at the time appointed. 

The record of the months following reads little like the history of Puritan 
New England. It would be impossible to describe the bitterness of persecution 
to which Qiiakers in the northern counties of Massacluisetts and in New Hamp- 
shire were subjected. To tlie terrors of the jail and the pillory were added 
unspeakable indignities at the hand of brutal officials. Both men and women 
were stripped of their clothing and cruelly scourged at the whipping-post, or 
were tied to a cart's tail and whipped from town to town, their property con- 
fiscated and their homes taken from them, and in some instances they were 
condemned to be sold for payment of jail and officers' fees. On one such 
episode AVhittier has founded his famous poem of Cassandra Southwick, which 




is in many respects one of the most thrilling products of his gifted pen. And 
not a few suffered death upon the gallows. A characteristic official document 
of the time reads thus : 
'• To the Constables of Boston, Charlestown, Maiden and Lynn : 

You are required to take into your custody, respectively, Edward Wharton, 
convicted of being a vagabond from his own dwelling place ; and the Constable 
of Boston is to whip him severely with thirty strijjes on his naked body ; and 



48 LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 

from constable to constable vou are required to convey him until he come to 
Salem, the place where he saith he dwelleth ; and in so doing this shall be your 
warrant. 

John Endicott. 

A sudden ending came to the bloody persecution. Prominent Friends in 
England succeeded in gaining the ear of Charles, who had but just been called back 
from his twelve years' exile, RejDorts had already reached the royal ear of the 
independent attitude assumed by the colonists, most of whom had been in ardent 
sympathy with Cromwell, and had not been backward in expressing their pref- 
erences ; and the incident of the persecutions was seized upon as a convenient 
pretext for letting the colonists feel the weight of his hand. Accordingly a 
letter was addressed to Governor Endicott, under the King's hand, ordering the 
immediate cessation of the persecution ; and, as if to make the intervention all 
the more galling, the letter was given into the hands of Samuel Shattuck, a 
Quaker who had but lately been expelled from Boston, to be conveyed to its 
destination. The incidents of the reception of this letter have inspired the pens 
of both Longfellow and Whittier. The verses of the latter are especially valu- 
able as showing the estimate in which a member of the persecuted sect holds the 
character and acts of their greatest enemy in the New World : 

THE KING'S MISSIVE. 

Under the great hill sloping bare 

To cove and meadow and common lot, 
In his council chamber and oaken chair 

Sat the worshipful Governor Endicott — 
A grave, strong man who knew no peer 
In the pilgrim land where he ruled in fear 
Of God, not man, and for good or ill, 
Held his trust with an iron will. 

He had shorn with his sword the cross from out 

The flag, and cloven the may-pole down; 
Harried the heathen round about, 

And whipped the Quakers from town to town. 
Earnest and honest, a man at need 
To burn like a torch for his own harsh creed. 
He kept with the flaming brand of his zeal 
The gate cf the holy commonweal. 

****** 

The door swung open, and Ravi^son, the Clerk, 

Entered and whispered under breath : 
"There waits below for the hangman's work 

A fellow banished on pain of death — 
Shattuck of Salem, unhealed of the whip. 
Brought over in Master Goldsmith's ship. 
At anchor here in a Christian port, 
With freight of the Devil and all his sort!" 

Twice and thrice on his chamber floor 

Striding fiercely from wall to wall; 
"The Lord do so to me and more," 

The Governor cried, "if I hang not all! 



nu akp:r invasion. 49 

Bring hither the Quaker ! '' Cahn, sedate, 
With the look of a man at ease with fate, 
Into that presence grim and dread 
Came Samuel Shattuck, with hat on head. 

"Off with the knave's hat ! "' An angry hand 
Smote down the offence; but the wearer said, 

With a quiet smile: "By the King's command, 
I bear his message and stand in his stead." 

In the Governor's hand a missive he laid, 

With the royal arms on its seal displayed; 

And the proud man spake, as he gazed thereat, 

Uncovering: "Give Mr. Shattuck his hat." 

He turned to the Quaker, bowing low : 

"The King commandeth your friends' release; 

Doubt not he shall be obeyed, although 
To his subject's sorrow and sin's increase. 

What he here enjoineth John Endicott 

His loyal servant questioneth not. 

You are free! God grant the spirit you own 

May take you from us to parts unknown." 

.So persecution etuled, and the Qimkeis g-raduallv came into possession of 
all tlie rights of citizens, and were accorded the privilege of churches and 
schools of their own. In L}nn the number of Qiiakers rapidly increased. 
The witchcraft delusion in 1692 diverted attention from them for a time, and 
after that had become history, they were found to have become somewhat 
aggressive and disputatious. Finally Rev. Mr. Shepherd hit upon a new 
method of combatting them, and a fast was appointed for the chiu-ch, to the end 
" that the spiritual plague might proceed no further," of which Cotton Mather 
wrote: "The spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ gave a remarkable effect unto 
this holy method of encountering the charms of Qiiakerism. It proved a better 
method than any coercion of the civil magistrates." And he adds : " Qiiaker- 
ism in Lynn received, as I am informed, a death wound from that very day." 
However this may have been, eight years later we find the Rev. Mr. Shepherd, 
with an imported champion from England, meeting the leading lights of the 
Qiiakers in a joint discussion, which narrowly escaped being a riot. In 1733 
Richard Estes j^resented the society with a large lot on Silsbee street, on which 
their first house of worship was erected. In 18 16 that house was removed to 
make room for the present edifice, and now serves as an ofiice for S. N. Breed 
& Co., on the corner of Broad and Beach streets. In 1S26 the Qiiaker meeting- 
house in Boston and the burial grounds adjoining having been long disused, and 
few or none of the society remaining in the city, it w^as thought best to remove 
the bones ; and the remains of one hundred aiul nine persons, among whom 
were many martyrs to the faith, were taken up and removed to the Friends 
cemetery in this city. The neighborhood of Nahant street was for many years 
headc^uarters for the Society of Friends, and to this day their descendants own 
and occupy some of the best places in that beautiful section. This, in brief, is 
the story of the Quaker Invasion, and it forms one of the most remarkable 
chapters in the history of our city and of the Commonwealth. 




HtsK 



mva\ 



THE clouds of superstition still' hung heavily over humanity w^hen the first 
homes were made in Massachusetts. The settlers had that faith in God 
® which could support them through the dangers and trials attendant upon 
I the establishment of a home in the wilderness. They had an equally 
vivid belief in the existence not only of Satan, but of an innumerable host of 
imps who waited upon him to do his bidding. The first voyagers who ap- 
proached our shore reported that they " saw Indians and devils sitting upon the 
rocks;" the settlers, sitting in their homes in the evening with the doors and 
windows tightly barred, while the forest choirs raised their nocturnal anthems, 
could distinguish the voices of devils mingling with the bark of the fox, the 
howl of the wolf, and the scream of the catamount. And even Obadiah 
Turner, one of the brightest and steadiest lights of the community, credited 
Satan with personal attentions rendered. He tells his own story best : 

" It was somewhat within ye night when we came in sight of home. In 
coming over ye hillock near ye doore of our habitation, I descried a daintie 
white rabbit, as yt seemed, wch I deemed would make a savory dish for break- 
fast on ye morrow. Giving chase, I was soon almost vpon him, when, lo, he 
whisked up a bushy tail over his hinder parts, and then threw it towards me 
with a mighty rush ; and yt shed upon me a liquor of such stinke yt nothing 
but ye opening of ye bottomless pit can equal. My eyes were blinded, and my 
breath seemed stopped forever. When I recovered, ye smell remained vpon 
me, insomuch yt they would fain drive me from ye house, saying yt they could 
not abide within while I remained. And I still carry yt about with me in a yet 
terrible degree. I am persuaded yt is another device of Satan ; yt four-footed 
beast being an impe let to do ye Devil his baptism by sprinkling." 

Among a people thus ready to give the devil his due and more, it is little 
wonder that belief in witchcraft, which had held full sway in England and on 
the continent for two centuries, should be regarded almost as one of the tenets 
of their religion. Against an inherited superstition, reason and judgment are 
of little avail. 



TIIK WITCHCRAFT TRAGEDY. 51 

The popular idea of a witeh was grotesque ; the theory bcini,^ that in the 
constant endeavor of Satan to win back to himself those souls who had been 
redeemed by the death of Christ and baptized, many, probably most, would be 
faithful to their vows and the church, in which case he had no power over them ; 
but that occasionally an individual would be found, who, yielding to his wiles, 
entered into a written compact whereby, in exchange for their souls, they re- 
ceived certain specified powers to work evil, such as to raise storms, blast crops, 
render men and beasts barren, inflict racking pains upon an enemy or cause 
him to waste away in sickness ; and an evil spirit was appointed as a special 
attendant, which most often took the form of a cat, but could transform itself at 
will into the likeness of any other animal. It was believed that Satan made his 
conquests in the form of a beautiful man or maiden, with whom vows of love 
were plighted, and that at certain stated times were held meetings of witches 
and their satanic lovers, called witches' sabbaths, to which they rode through 
the air seated comfortably astride of a broomstick, making their exit by the 
chimney and returning in the same manner ; and having sold themselves to 
Satan, as good subjects they must continually stri\e to induce others to similarly 
dispose of themselves. But with all the power thus conferred upon the deluded 
mortal, they could not exercise it to better their own condition. 

There were various methods of testing alleged witches, to ascertain if they 
were guilty of forbidden practices. One was, to confront them with their vic- 
tims, and if the paroxysms or phenomena of the infliction were repeated, it was 
regarded as positive proof of guilt. Another method was, to search the bodv 
of the accused for the "• devil's mark." When the compact with Satan was 
sealed, he was supposed to touch some part of the body, which at once lost the 
sense of touch. The delicate and humane method of finding this mark was to 
remove the witch's clothing, and examine every portion of the body, using 
sharp needles to locate the insensible part. Another method, and one which 
was deemed infallible, was to cast the accused into deep water. If she floated, 
it was infallible evidence of satanic assistance. If she sunk, she was as con- 
clusively proved innocent ; but the vindication usually came too late to be of 
much comfort to the accused. All these dark superstitions the settlers in these 
New England towns brought with them from England. For some years they 
had more tangible things to occupy their attention, but when the occasion 
served, the pent-up flames burst forth with redoubled fury. 

In those early days the New England towns were more closely bound to- 
gether in a common interest than now, and though the earliest outbreaks of the 
witchcraft mania took place in Boston and Salem, the people of Lynn were as 
profoundly stirred by them as the dwellers in the localities named. The first 
person to be denounced as a witch and arrested, condemned and executed was 
Margaret Jones of Charlestown, this occurring in 164S. Seven years later Mrs. 
Ann Hibbins, of Boston, was charged with witchcraft and condemned. Her 
case attracted widespread attention, and there wei-e many dissenters from the 
severity of her sentence. The charge against her consisted chiefly in the alle- 
gation that she possessed a crabbed temper, and the original accusation was 
doubtless caused by personal spite. She was executed on Boston Common. 
From that time until 1693 there were occasional and widely separated accusa- 



52 



LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 



tions and trials for witchcraft, not enough to cause great popular excitement, 
but sufficient to keep alive the fire of superstition, ready to burst into flame when 

the occasion should serve. 
The outbreak came in 
692, and so staillingly 
near our doors as to al- 
most achieve the impor- 
tance of a local event. 
Salem Village, now a por- 
tion of Danvers, is a quiet, 
un2Dretentious place, little 
suggestive of witchcraft or 
an} thing else so uncanny and weird. The 
quiet street still winds by the same old 
trees which stood there then, and the houses 
which were the homes of the principal actors in 
the bloody drama remain upon the old founda- 
tions. The parsonage was the scene of the first 
outbreak. Two children of the Rev. Samuel 
Pan is were attacked with convulsions, and a 
black shne called Tituba was accused of having 
bewitched them, the accusation 
being made by a number of young 
girls who had been accustomed to 
meet at the parsonage at stated 
times during the winter. Tituba 
was promptly arrested, 
and in due course of jus- 
tice put on trial. Noth- 
ing could be proved 
against her that would 
justify summary pro- 
ceedings, and the prin- 
cipal excuse for 
holding her in 
jail for nine 
months were 
certain boastful 
claims made by 
her at her trial 

EXECUTION OF MRS. ANN HiBBiNS. which have a 

strong suggestion of modern spiritualism. She was finally sold for payment of 
jail fees. The excitement caused by this occurrence soon rose to a frenzy. As 
though encouraged by their success in the case mentioned, the circle of girls 
soon after made accusation against well-known and hitherto respected residents 
of the surrounding country, and when confronted with the victims in court, the 
girls would calmly make the most preposterous statements of things done by the 




THE WITCHCRAFT TRAGEDY. 



53 



accused, which were accepted by the learned jurists of the day as competent 
evidence. Several of the accused persons, in ortler to save their lives, confessed 
to having signed their names in the Devil's book, to having been baptized by 
him, and to have attended midnight meetings of witches, or sacraments held 
on the green near the parsonage, to which they came riding tlirough the air. 
They admitted that he had sometimes appeared to them in the form of a l)lack 
dog or cat, sometimes in that of a horse, and once as " a fine, grave man," Imt 
generally as a black man of severe aspect. But many would not so cc^nfcss, 
and suffered the penalty. The trials were the merest farce, the judgment 
apparently being made before the evidence was in. Thirteen women and five 
men were hung, and two — Rev. George Burroughs and Giles Corey — were 
pressed to death beneath heavy weights because they would neither confess nor 
plead to their accusations. More than one hundred others were accused and 



PS^? 






THE PARSONAGE, SALEM VILEAGE. 

hnprisoned, of whom seven belonged in Lvnn. INIanv of these persons were 
of advanced age, and the long months spent in Boston prison must have been a 
terrible hardship. It was a reign of terror indeed. No one was sate. The 
honored citizen of one dav often found himself doomed upon the next, and 
many happy homes were, without a moniLMit's warning, broken up, and the 
father or mother, and sometimes both, hurried off to prison and the mockery of 
a trial. The delusion finally furnished the cause of its downfall. The Rev. 
Jeremiah Shepherd of Lynn was denounced as a wizard. The charge was so 
manifestly absurd, and the friends of the worthy pastor made such demonstra- 
tions of opposition, that the judges called a halt. The excitement cooled as 
quickly as it had risen. Those confined in jail were released, and in many 
cases compensated for lost time ; and most of the girls whose antics had caused 
the mischief, came before the church, humbly confessed their errors — the blame 
for which was duly laid upon vSatan, who had possessed them — and pleaded for 
foro-iveness. Thus ended this most weird and bloody chapter in the history of 
our city and vicinity. It reads little like a story of real life actually lived near 
the spot we call home ; yet such it is. The superstitions of those old days are 
gone — or exchanged; but whether exchanged or gone will not be told until 



54 LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 

two more centuries have passed by. Perhaps, then, some poet will sing of the 
romance of these days as sweetly as Whittier has sung the requiem of the days 
gone by : 

" How has New England's romance fled, 

Even as a vision of the morning I 
Its rites foredone, — its guardians dead, — 
Its priestesses, bereft of dread, 

Waking the veriest urchin's scorning ! 
Gone like the Indian wizard's yell. 

And fire-dance round the magic rock ! 
Forgotten like the Druid's spell 

At moonrise by his holy oak ! 
No more along the shadowy glen 
Glide the dim ghosts of murdered men; 
No more the unquiet churchyard dead 
Glimpse upward from their turfy bed. 

Startling the traveller, late and lone; 
As on some night of starless weather 
They silently commune together. 

Each sitting on his own headstone ! 
The roofless house, decayed, deserted, 
Its living tenants all departed. 
No longer rings with midnight revel 
Of witch, or ghost, or goblin evil; 
No pale blue flame sends out its flashes 
Through creviced roof or shattered sashes ! — 
The witch-grass round the hazel spring 
May sharply to the night-air sing. 
But there no more shall withered hags 
Refresh at ease their broomstick nags, 
Or taste those hazel-shadowed waters 
As beverage meet for Satan's daughters; 
No more their mimic tones be heard, — 
The mew of cat, — the chirp of bird, — • 
Shrill blending with the hoarser laughter 
Of the fell demon following after ! " 





M^ ^^^*«^ 



e^. 



(( ^IIIE stood upon a bare, tall crag 

^_Jj Which overlooked her rugged cot — 
^^ A \\'asted, gray and meagre hag, 
In features evil as her lot. 
She had the crooked nose of a witch, 

And a crooked back and chin; 
And in her gait she had a hitch, 
And in her hand she carried a switch 

To aid her work of sin — ■ 
A twig of wizard hazel, which 
Had grown beside a haunted ditch." 

Whittier must liave given hi.s then youthful fancy loose rein in this word- 
picture of our famous town.swoman. Doubtless he described what, according to 
the popular fancy, a witch should resemble. But Moll Pitcher was no witch, 
though doubtless if she had lived in the days of the witchcraft frenzy, she would 
have been hanged as such with little ceremony. But it was less than three- 
quarters of a century ago that she lived in her little cottage, opposite the head of 
Pearl street, on the north side of Essex, where for fifty years she solved the 
doubts and mysteries which troubled her contemporaries. Her father, Capt. 
John Dimond, commanded a small vessel sailing out of Marblehead. She was 
born in 1738, and early married Robert Pitcher, a Lynn shoemaker — a man of 
no force of character — and the chief burden of the support of the little family, 
one son and three daughters, early fell on her. Her ancestors had borne a repu- 
tation as wizards of greater or less attainment, a favorite accomplishment of her 
grandfather having been to pace up and down among the graves in the church- 
yard during the most furious storms, and direct the course of vessels attempting 
to make the harbor, his voice plainly audible to the sailors, no matter how loudly 
the storm might roar, or howr far out the vessel might be. With such a reputa- 
tion ready-made in the family, it is, perhaps, little wonder that young Mistress 
Pitcher sought to lighten the pressure of poverty by the exercise of her inherited 
gifts. But whatever was the motive that first impelled her to practice the art of 



56 LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 

soothsaying, her early success was great, and her fame spread until her musical 
name became a household word not only throughout this land and England, but 
in every port where the Yankee sailor spun his yarns, were related stories of the 
Lvnn pythoness, which doubtless suffered no loss of embellishment or detail 
because of the inborn credulity of the sailor boys. Her powers lay in no special 
direction, but she was sought alike by the swain in doubt as to the feelings of 
his fair one ; by the maiden anxious to know of the safety of her sailor lover ; 
by the sailor, to know if he should have a safe return ; by the merchant, solicit- 
ous of the success of his ventures ; and by the noble, to learn the future course 
of the affairs of state. The well-worn path to her cottage was trodden by rich 
and poor, high and low, alike. No matter what their station in the outside 
world, within the brown cottage beneath the shadow of High Rock, in the pres- 
ence of the renowned fortune-teller, they stood on a common level, and for a 
consideration could learn the whereabouts of lost property or friends, or get the 
merest peep behind the curtain of the future. 

Lewis, who was familiar with her appearance, having known her, leaves a 
picture very different from the fancy sketch of the Quaker bard : " She was of 
medium height and size for a woman, with a good form and agreeable manners. 
Her head, phrenologically considered, was somewhat capacious, her forehead 
broad and full, her hair dark brown, her nose inclining to be long, and her face 
pale and thin. Her cormtenance was intellectual, and she had the contour of 
face and expression which, without being positively beautiful, is nevertheless 




cMarJ-gitcUr 



decidedly interesting, — a thoughtful, pensive, sometimes downcast look, almost 
approaching to melancholy, — an eye, when she looked at you, of calm and keen 
penetration, — and an expression of intelligent discernment half mingled with a 
glance of shrewdness." 



MOLL PITCHER. 57 

What was the secret of the remarkalile power of Moll Pitcher? Here she 
dwelt all the years of a long life, going in and out before the people, her life 
open before them ; reputable, charitable, and given to no occult or mysterious 
rites other than scanning the bottom of a tea-cup or musing over the cards, and 
it is most likely that she had little regard for these ceremonies, but used them to 
gain time while cautiously watching her visitors for a clue to their history or 
desires ; but more often she calmly looked her customers over and talked with 
them face to face. Yet her fame increased with her years. The stories that are 
told of her achievements, not only in piercing the secrets of the future, but in 
solving the mysteries of the curreat happenings, would rouse the smile of in- 
credulity were they not recorded by persons of undoubted veracity and relia- 
bility. Possibly to great native shrewdness and tact in divining the hidden 
thoughts and desires of her visitors was added in a high degree the clairvoyant 
faculty ; but probably most of her revelations could be accounted for without 
resort to this intangible quality. According to the proverb, "• it is the unex- 
pected that happens ;" not that the occuiTcnces of every day are not the natural 
outcome of antecedent acts, but because men, in forming tlieir expectations, 
ordinarily think along the line of their desires, rather than according to the logic 
of the events of their past lives. If, therefore, the sibyl, having gained from the 
unsuspecting guest the main facts of his life to the time of their meeting, has 
the logical force to deduce from them their natural outcome in his after years, 
the " fortune " which she may tell him will very likely be vastly different from 
his anticipations, but will probably be the things which must inevitably result 
from his course of life. To a mind on the alert and trained by long experience^ 
the slightest admission may be a sufficient clew to the secret of a life. Doubt- 
less Moll Pitcher made a great many mistakes. These would be little heard of 
and soon forgotten, but a prediction verified under extraordinary circvunstances 
was sure to be talked of as a wonder, and to lose nothing in each repetition ; 
and among the thousands who sought her counsel, there could hardly fail of 
being many who would unconsciously furnish her with the data for a wonder- 
fully accurate "fortune." But even this supposition will not satisfactorily 
account for many of her achievements in her peculiar line, and it is easier to lay 




MOLL PITCHER'S COTTAGE. 



58 



LVXX AND SURROUNDINGS. 



the secret of tliem at the door of clair\-oyance than to trace them to their actual 
origin. Whatever was the secret of her power, she was the most successful 
fortune-teller of her day ; she had no equals among her predecessors, and since 
she died there has been none like her. The home she lived in still stands near 
its old foundation, on Essex, at the head of Pearl street. If only its walls could 
be induced to tell the many strange things they have heard in their day, and the 
names of all the persons who crossed the sibyl's palm with the magic key to her 
knowledge of the future, what a wondrously interesting story could be written ! 
She was maiTied on the 2nd of October, 1760, and died April 9th, 1813. 

" Even she, our own weird heroine. 
Sole Pythoness of ancient Lynn, 

Sleeps calmly where the living laid her; 
And the wide realm of sorcery, 
Left by its latest mistress free. 

Hath found no gray and skilled invader." 







i 



^ 




M^^eni 



CpHIS strange wanderer of the seas can scarcely be classed as an exclusively 
Lynn institution, but in the early part of the present century he created a 
tremendous sensation here and hereabouts. That there was such a visitor 
to our sliores and bay in the early summer of 1S19 and se\eral seasous 
after, is true past question ; it was through attempts to describe him, and worse 
still, to estimate his length, that many reputations well established as to trutli 
and veracity received a wrench from which they have never recovered. When 
Col, T. H. Perkins, a well-known resident of Boston, was asked by an English 
friend whether he had heard of the sea serpent, he replied : " Unfortunately I 
have seen it." He felt that a shadow had somehow closed in upon him from 
which he was unable to emerge. 

His snakeshlp's comings were as unannounced as his departures were un- 
ceremonious, and he was frequently seen taking his morning swim along the 
shores, his head elevated at a good sight-seeing distance above the waves. 
Whether the people he saw wei-e too inquisitive, or the country not to his liking, 
is not kntnvn, but he declined to fix his residence here, though no doubt he 
could have made very advantageous terms as a permanent summer attraction. 
A recently published letter by a fellow townsman gives as good a description of 
him as any we have seen. 

" Lynn, Mass., June 36, iSSi. 
Mr. C. F. Holder. 

Dear Sir: — Yours of the 34th inst. came duly to hand, and, in reply 
to that part of it relating to the account given by myself of a strange fish, ser- 
pent, or some other marine animal called a sea serpent, I have to say that I saw 
him on a pleasant, calm summer morning of August, 1S19, from Long Beach, 
Lvnn, now Nahant. At this time he was about a quarter of a mile away ; but 
the water was so smooth that I could plainly see his head and the motion of his 
body, but not distinctly enough to give a good description of him. Later in the 
day I saw him again off ' Red Rock.' He then passed along about one hundred 



60 LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 

feet from where I stood, witli head about two feet out of the water, and his 
speed was about the ordinary of a common steamer. What I saw of his leno-th 
was from fifty to sixty feet. 

It was very difficult to count the bunches or humps (not fins) upon his 
back, as, by the undulating motion, they did not all appear at once. This 
accounts, in part, for the varied descriptions given of him by different parties. 
His appearance upon the surface of the water was occasional and but for a short 
time. The color of his skin was dark, differing but little from the water, or the 
back of any common fish. This is the best description I can give of him from 
my own observation, and I saw the monster just as truly, although not quite so 
clearly, as I ever saw anything. 




This matter has been treated by many as a hoax, fish story, or a seaside 
phenomenon to bring trade and profit to the watering-places ; but, nothwith- 
standing all this, there is no doubt in my mind that some kind of an uncommon 
or strange rover in the form of a snake or a serpent, called an ichthyosaurus, 
plesiosaurus, or some other long-named marine animal, has been seen by hund- 
reds of men and boys in our own, if not in other waters. And five jDersons 
beside myself — Amos Lawrence, Samuel Cabot and James Prince, of Boston, 
Benjamin F. Newhall, of Saugus, and John Marston, of Swampscott — bore 
public testimony of having seen him at the time. 

Yours Truly, 

Nathan D. Chase." 

The gentlemen named w^ere all interviewed at the time, and their testi- 
mony, to make it, if possible, more conclusive, was sworn to before a magis- 
trate, and differed only in detail from that of JSIr. Chase, except that Mr. Mar- 
ston thought he might have been a hundred feet long. At various times and in 
various places, from Nahant to Nova Scotia, his serpentine majesty has suddenly 
raised his head above the waves, carrying wonder and affright to the hearts of 
all beholders. All tell about the same story of him with the exception of the 
crew of the bark "Pauline," of London. Their testimony, taken before a 
magistrate at Liverpool, was : 

"Borough of Liverpool, in the County Palatine of Lancaster, to wit: 
We, the undersigned, captain, officers and crew of the bark Pauline of 



THE SEA SERPENT. 



61 



Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, in the United Kingdom of Great Britain 
and Irehmd, do solemnly and sincerely declare that on July 8th, 1S75, in lati- 
tute 5 deg. S. and longitude 35 deg. W., we observed three large sperm whales, 
and one of them was gripped round the body with two turns of what appeared 
to be a huge serpent. The head and tail appeared to have a length beyond the 
coils of about thirty feet, and its girth eight or nine feet. The serpent whirled 
its victim round and round for about fifteen minutes, and then suddenly dragged 
the whale to the bottom head first. George Drevar, Master; Horatio Thomp- 
son, John Henderson Landells, Owen Baker, William Lewarn." 

That was quite a fish story, but it by no means measured their capacity in that 
line, for five days later three of the same ship's crew made affidavit that they had 
seen the serpent, his head '•'• elevated some sixty feet in the air." What length 
of body and tail would be required to enable the serpent to elevate his head sixty 
feet in the air, we leave for others to figure out ; but it seems a pitv that they 
could not have been contented to let a good enough storv alone. At intervals 
during these later }ears this strange wanderer of the seas has put in an appear- 
ance now here, now there ; but those across whose path he has swum ha\e l)e- 
come verv guarded in their references to him, owing, possibly, to sundrv unkind 
references to the unaqueous condition of their ship stores. But the local de- 
scriptions given of this king of the serpents have attracted wide attention in sci- 
entific circles, and e\en inspired one poet's muse : 

" Welter upon the waters, mighty one, 

And stretch thee in the ocean's trough of brine; 
Turn thy wet scales up to the wind and sun. 

And toss the billows from thy flashing fin; 

Heave thy deep breathings to the ocean's din, 
And bound upon its ridges in thy pride; 

Or dive down to its lowest depths, and in 
The caverns where its unknown monsters hide. 
Measure thy length beneath the gulf stream tide; 

Dr rest thee on the navel of that sea 
Where, floating on the maelstrom, abide 

The Krakens, sheltering under Norway's lee — 
But go not to Nahant, lest men should swear 
You are a great deal bigger than you are." 

— J. G. Br.\ineri). 



Willi 




NAHANT BREAKERS. 



fiiy Q^ ^^nn. 



:-^^ 




X the fourteenth day of May, 1S50, the town organiza- 
tion, under which L}nn had lived peacefully and happily for two centuries, 
was superseded by the city form of government. The change was not made 
without a struggle, and for two successive years Mr. George Hood, one of the 
most public-spirited men of the time, successfully led the opposition to the pro- 
posed measure; but the majority of the people were against him. Notwith- 
standing his pronounced opposition, his fellow-cltlzens were quick to see that 
his course was governed by motives of public spirit and solicitous regard for the 
best welfore of the town, and at the first election of city officers, he was chosen 
Mayor by a small majority. The first City Government was organized on the 
date above named, with Daniel C. Baker as President of the Council, and 
Richard Bassett as City Clei'k. Under the careful guidance of Mayor Hood, 
the machinery of the new city was soon made to run smoothly. His large busi- 
ness experience and knowledge of public affairs, gained by several years' service 
In the General Court and other public positions, specially fitted him for the 
duties of Mayor, and he devoted himself with as much energy to promoting the 
Interests of the city as he had to opposing the acceptance of the city charter. 
The second year he was re-elected by a very large majority, showing that the 
people recognized his faithful service In their behalf. The third year he de- 
clined a renomlnation. Among the more important events of the two years of 
Mayor Hood's administration may be mentioned the readjustment of the hours 
of labor, whereby ten hours came to be accepted as a day's work — In bringing 
this change about. Mayor Hood bore a leading part — the High School building 
on High street was dedicated ; an effort was made to preserve Long Beach from 
the encroachments of the sea by planting a line of red cedars along the ridge ; 
the excavation In Dvnigeon Rock was begun by Hiram Marble ; a grand recep- 



CITY OF LYXX. 



63 



tion was tendered to Louis Kossuth ; and the sewin^^ macliine was introcUiced. 
The shoe industry was in a highly prosperous condition. Largely tlirough the 
efforts of Mr. Samuel Brimblecom, who died in 1S50, the methods of carrying 
on the business had been simplified and systematized, and tlie manufacturers 
found a ready market for their pi-oduct at remunerative prices. The total valu- 
ation of the city was $4,834,843, and the municipality started out with a debt of 
$56,960. 

In 1S52 vSwampscott was set off as a separate town, and the following year 
Nahant gained her majority. Tlie following years were uneventful beyond the 
ordinary happenings of New England towns. The financial depression of 1S57 
rested heavily upon rich and jDoor alike, and during the struggle to regain the 
ground lost, the foundation was laid for the great strike of 1S60, which created 
a decided sensation throughout the countrv. The hanging of John Brown, in 
1859, again roused the slavery-hating citizens of Lynn to a high pitch of indig- 
nation, and the bells were tolled at sunrise, noon and sunset. In 1S60 the valu- 
ation of the city was $9,649,065, population 19,087, showing a gain of 50 per 
cent, in population, and 100 per cent, in wcnltli. during the dec::de. 

In 1861 came the news of the ^ -^- ^ 

fall of Fort Sumter. The first calls 



for troops by President Lincoln met W 
with a prompt response from Lvnii. 
In five hours after the proclamation 
was received, two full con:ipanic^ 
were armed and ready for duty, ai 
the following terse dispatch M'as sent 
to headquarters : " ^Ve have mnir 
men than guns — what shall we do 't " =^: 
At eleven o'clock the next day, April ^| 
i6th, they left for the seat of war. 3 
These two companies — the L\ 
Light Infantry, Capt. George T. E 
Newhall, and the Lynn City Guards, ^ 
Capt. James Hudson, Jr. — were at- 
tached to the Eighth Massachusetts 
Regiment, of ^\•hich Timothy Mun- 
roe, of Lvnn, was colonel. Capt. ^^ 
Xewhall is still among us, hale and ""^'^ 

hearty, and wields a pen as mighty hon. george hood. 

for peace, morality and earnest living as his sword was for freedom and tlie in- 
tegrity of the Union. The regiment performed honorable, though not very 
bloody service, and returned after its three months' term without the loss, by 
death, of a man. IMeanwhile the war spirit had kept at fever heat, and enlist- 
ments went rapidly foi-ward. Throughout the war L}nn supported the Govern- 
ment loyally, and gave of her men and means without stint. Large and enthu- 
siastic war meetings were held, and great inducements in the way of bounties 
for volunteers offered, with the result of keeping her quota more than full. 
During the war Lvnn furnished 3,274 men for the field — 230 more than her 





64 



LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 



full quota. ]Many of those who went into the war from Lynn in private or sub- 
ordinate positions rose to j^laces of honor and distinction, and not a few who 
went came not back. Out of those who did return has been organized the 
largest Post of the Grand Army of the Republic in the country. Those were 
stirring times in Lynn, and to describe the great war meetings, the departure of 
troops for the front, the rejoicings over victories achieved, the funeral honors 
paid to slain soldiers, and the other moving incidents of those memorable days, 
would require larger limits than this volume affords. 

Hon. Peter M. Neal was Mayor of the city during 1S63-5. In those times 
the duties devolving upon the chief magistrates of our cities w^ere varied and 
constant. In addition to the routine work of the office, there were the added 
duties arising from the raising and equipping of troops, the general oversight of 
all relief operations, and the many questions and requests coming from the 
friends of those at the front. During the four years of his administration, he 
generally worked from sixteen to eighteen hours a day. He was indefatigable in 
his exertions in alleviating the suffer- 
ings of our soldiers and their families, 
and many times visited the army and 
hospitals, carrying good cheer and 
messages from home to those in the 
field, and relief and comfort to the 
wounded. After the close of the 
war, for many years he continued 
his care and service for the soldiers 
and their fiimilies, obtaining for 
many pensions from the Govern- 
ment, although he would never take 
any compensation for his efforts. 
Mr. Neal is a native of Maine, and 
was born in North Berwick Sept. 
21, 181 1. His parents were Quak- 
ers, and he received his education 
and early training in the Friends' 
schools. After leaving school, until 
1850 he was engaged in teaching in 
Maine. In that year he came to 
Lynn and engaged in the lumber 
business, in which he still con- 
tinues. HON. PETER M. NEAL. 

The burning of the old City Hall, which from the time of its building, in 
1 8 14, until I S3 3 had stood in the center of the Common, and thereafter on 
South Common street, left the city without an official home until the new City 
Hall was completed in 1867. The new building was dedicated on Saturday, 
Nov. 30. The whole day was generally obsen-ed as a holiday. The dedicatory 
exercises were of a very interesting nature, consisting of addresses, poem, etc., 
and, what was of equal interest to very many, a free collation in the basement, 
served at noon. The beautiful structure thus dedicated is justly regarded as one 




CITY OF lA-XN. 



65 



of the chief ornaments of the city. The many conveniences for the transaction 
of public business which it allbnls, and the beneficent influence which it has 
exerted upon the arcliitecture of tlie cit^-, have made it worth the cost, wliich 
was about $313,000. From this time on, tlie growth and development of the 
city has been rapid. The shoe industry, which from the earliest times had been 
carried on in the little shops scattered here and there over the city, had been 
gradually developing toward the Victory system, and t(i center about'tlie railroad 
station. There were no steam engines in Lynn at that time, but the change 
taking place in the methods of the business rendered them a necessity, and they 
were soon after introduced ; and during the fevv' years ending in 1S74 many of 




ITV HALL. 



the large factories were built. Business was good, real estate rapidly advanced 
in price, and values of all kinds rapidly expanded. The following year the finan- 
cial crash came. Real estate declined more rapidly than it had risen, failures 
were numerous, and business had a blue time generally. This depression lasted 
nearly two years. The recovery was gradual but healthy, and since that time 
the growth of the city, while being measurably i-apid, has been regulated by the 
demand of the time rather than by any speculative movement. The shoe busi- 
ness and its collateral branches has steadily expanded. The later years have 
been prolific of labor troubles, and the mducements held out by va:-ious country 
towns have caused many of our manufacturers to locate a pdvt of their business 



66 



LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 



outside the city, where they hoped to be free from disturbance of this nature. 
At present, many towns in Maine and New Hampshire receive their principal 
business impulse from the operations of Lynn capital and brains in their midst, 
and hence may almost be looked upon as outlying wards of the city proper. 

The t\\o hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the settlement of Lynn 
was celebrated in 1879, .on the 17th of June. In all these many years she 
has enjoyed a steady increase both in population and business importance. 
Though possessing a large water frontage, the harbor is approachable only 
by a small class of vessels, the channel being both narrow and shallow. 
Yet when the Lynn yachtsmen come together in their annual regattas, the 
harbor presents an animated appearance. In respect to her harbor she has 




been, for all commercial purposes, less fortunately situated than some of her 
sisters who started in life about the same time with herself. Yet this very fact 
is now seen to have contributed largely to her success. Little of her capital 
and few of her citizens being engaged in shipping or foreign commerce, the 
embargoes and blockades resulting from our nvunerous wars inflicted very little 
loss or hardship here, and she was left free to develope the peculiar industry 
for which her peoj)le and soil seem best adapted ; and having a home market 
for her manufocture, the disturbances at home and abroad, which oftentimes had 
a well-nigh disastrous eflect upon many seaboard towns, troubled her but little, 
and that only incidentally. The foundations of the city's prosperity were laid 
broad and deep, and consist not more in the reputation for excellence, finish 
and cheapness of her product, than upon the inborn enterprise and ability of her 
manufocturers and the skill and faithful work of her mechanics. And enough 
business has gone from Lvnn, to escape labor troubles and take advantage of the 
inducements offered by country towns, to make, if all were collected together, 
another city of almost equal size and importance with herself. 

The census of 1SS5 credits Lynn with a population of 45,867, with 13,278 
polls, a valuation of $28,459,243, and a tax roll of $533,130.53; 7,144 houses 



CITY OF LYNN. 67 

on 564 streets, places ami courts, make i:p the city. A Police Department 
with 44 patrolmen guard the peace of the town ; a Fire Department of fne 
steamers, one chemical engine, four hose companies, and two hook and 
ladder companies, protect us from conflagrations. One High, seven Grammar 
and sixty-four Primary schools, besides numerous private schools, provide for 
the education of our youth, and the spires of twenty-six churches point the 
way to a better life. A free public library of 32,000 volumes furnishes good 
reading to whomsoever chooses to avail themselves of its advantages, and the 
social, charitable and protective associations number one hundred and three. 
Connection with the outer A\orld is maintained by the Boston & Maine, Boston, 
Revere Beach and Lvnn, and the Lvnn and Boston (Plorse) Railroad Com- 
panies. Five National Banks facilitate our business exchanges, and two Savings 
Banks guard the small savings of the people. It mav, therefore, be asserted that 
Lynn is not onlv a citv having a history and a goodlv heritage, but also is pos- 
sessed of all the advantages and appliances of a live, modern manufacturing 
town, and an industrv that is destined in the future, as it has dune in the past, 
to keep her in the front rank of the sisterhood of the cities in the Common- 
wealth. As we pass on, ^ve shall have occasion to examine many features of 
our modern city more in detail, and to get something of an idea of her resources 
and developments of her social life. 




BREAKWATER. LYNN, CHRISTMAS 1885. 



"^iMj^iigriiiii 









MT, VERNON STREET. 



eading "^ndusimes^ 



CTTIE beginnings of shocmaking in Lvnn were exceedingly small — "like a 
f grain of mustard seed, \vhich indeed is the least of all seeds, but when 
t it is grown, is the greatest among herbs." In like manner has the shoe 
►j< industry grown, until our goodly city, with many sister communities in 
the Commonwealth, and New England as well, finds shelter " in the branches 
thereof." Probably Philip Kertland, the first Lynn shoemaker, did not lay 
claim to more than ordinary skill in the art, and for many years those wlio fol- 
lowed in his foQtsteps were content to do as he had done. The best shoes worn 
by the Lynn dames came from England and France. Those constructed here 
wei-e made of neat's leather, and were serviceable, if not handsome. The sole 
leather was worked with the flesh side out, and for nearly two centuries both 
shoes were made on the same last. About the year 1670 shoes began to be cut 
with broad straps for buckles, which were worn by women as well as men. 
Fifty years later buckles for ladies' shoes went out of fashion. The coming of 
John Adam Dagyr in 1750 gave the trade of shoemaking in Lynn the turn and 
impetus which led to its adoption as the leading industry of the place. He was 
a thorough workman, and produced shoes equal to the best made in England. 
The Lynn craftsmen were apt scholars, and it was not long before the fame of 
the Lynn shoe had spread throughout the colonies. The little, square shoe- 
maker's shop became an institution, and fathers and sons in their spare hours, 
particularly in winter, worked alongside the journeymen and apprentices, the 
number working in a single shop ranging from four to eight. In the years 



LEADING INDUSTRIES. 




preceding the introduction of machinery these shoe shops had become very 
numerous. The shoes were cut at the estabhshments of the bosses, and given 
out to be made through the town. Tlie ujipers were called " shoes," and the 
soles " stufis," and thread, wax and cvevvthing necessarv to make the shoe were 



m 




M 







PRIMITIVE SHOEMAKING. 



LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 



supplied by the bosses with the shoes. The ladies of the household had quite 
as important a part in the work as the men. They stitched, or bound, the 
uppers while the men were preparing the soles. The sewing-machine made 
quick despatch with the time-honored occupation of our mothers and grand- 
mothers, but Lucy Larcom has immortalized their work in her pathetic poem of 
Hannah Binding Shoes. The invention, or rather the perfecting, of the McKay 




"Spring and winter, Hannah's at the window l.inding shoes." 
machine in 1S63 put an end to the old-style methods of shoemaking, and the 
modest shoe shops which were scattered all over the town were gradually turned 
over to the uses of the pigs and chickens, and the shoe factory became an insti- 
tution. These naturally clustered as closely as possible about the railroad. 
Mr. John Wooldredge was one of the first to see the advantages of the labor- 
saving machines, and it was he who, in 1S53, brought the first sewing-machines 
to Lynn, and ten years later, first applied steam power to the manufacture of 
shoes. It was not till the close of the war, in 1S65, that the use of steam 
engines in shoe factories became general. With machinery came the minute 
sub-divisions of the labor of making the shoe, so that, in place of the three, and 
possibly four, persons who would once have performed the labor upon a shoe, 
the work is now shared by not less than thirty-four. 

No more interesting trip can be taken, than with a competent guide, to go 
through one of the large shoe factories and watch the processes by which abstract 
particles of leather, iron, cloth, buttons and other things, in all more than one 



LEADING INDUSTRIES. 71 

hundred in number, gradually come togedier in the form of a shoe. Commencing 
at the basement, one finds himself in a most confusing medley of brawny men 
in scant clothing, for it is hot down there at all seasons, huge machines which 
run with a clatter and thud that suggest great power, and piles of leather in all 
stages of manufocture, from the whole side to the soles which have been sorted, 
sized and tied up ready for the making rooms above. In this room we find the 
stripper, sole cutter, sorter and tier-up ; and one cannot help wondering if those 
who are runnmg the stripping and dinking machines are as indifferent to the loss of 
a finger or possibly a hand as they seem to be. We are next shown into the cutting 
room where the upper leather and linings are prepared. There is nothing ex- 
citing here. These twenty or more gentlemen who are ranged around the 
room, each at his cutting-board, work with a deliberation and care wliich is 
seen in no other part of the flictory, but necessary to faithful work. In tliis 
room we find four more divisions of the work — i, outside cutter; 2, linin*>- 
cutter ; 3, trimming cutter ; 4, dier-out. Following our guide we mount anotlier 
flight of steps and find ourselves in the stitching room. The energetic clatter 
of the different busy machines render us olilivious to the conductor's explanatory 
remarks, and we content ourselves with watching the continued evolution of 
the shoe under the busy, skilful fingers of the operatives. The uppers pass 
first into the hands of the lining maker, then to the closer, third, seam-rubber; 
fourth, back-stayer ; fifth, front-stayer ; sixth, closer-on ; seventli, turner ; eighth, 
top-stitcher; ninth, button-hole cutter; tenth, corder ; eleventli, button-sewer. 
On casting up our account so far, we find that twenty persons have had a part in 
making our shoe. From the stitching room we are taken to the finishing room, 
where the bottoms and uppers, which have thus far been travelling by different 
routes are finally brought together. In this room, as in the stitching room and 
basement, everything is lively. Men and boys are working as if for life and 
scarcely stop to bestow a look upon the visiting party. Racks and horses filled 
with shoes hi all stages of completion fill the floor, and numerous odd looking 
machines are located at convenient spots. At one end of this room the compo- 
nent parts of the shoe come together m the hands of the stock-fitter, wliom we 
numl)er twenty-one in our list, and are passed from hand to hand until the}- ar- 
rive at the other end completed, ready for packing and shipment. From the 
stock-fitter we watch our shoe go into the hands of the laster, who, with a 
dozen of his fellows, works at an odd-shaped l^ench. Attention is attracted 
to one who is evidently a veteran. Taking a preparatory chew of tobacco, 
which he carefully stows away in one cheek, and with a backward toss of 
the head filling the other with something less than a gill of sharp tacks, he pro- 
ceeds to last our shoe ; and with caring for the tobacco, working the tacks one 
by one to liis lips with his tongue, and dropping an occasional emphatic ejacu- 
lation as he drops a tack or pounds his thumb, his mouth is kept as busy as his 
hands. The cutting and lasting departments of the shoe factory are the only 
ones which have not been successfully invaded by the labor-saving machines, 
and these are about the most important in the factory. Upon the good judg- 
ment and close calculation of the cutter depend, in large measure, uniformity in 
the quality of the product and the profits of the business, for no degree of ability 
•or foresight in the management can counteract the ravages of a wasteful cutter ; 



72 



LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 




LEADING INDUSTRIES. 



and upon the faithfulness and skill of the laster depend the fit and set of the 
shoe, assuming, of e..ursc, that the work leading up to the laster has hecn faith- 
fully done. Hence it is, that good lasters are always in demand, and their 
Union has maintained a more independent position than any other organization 
connected with the craft has been able to assume. Invention has now^turncd its 
attention to this department, and a young Lymi mechanic has produced a lasting 
machine which promises to be successful, though it has not yet come into gen- 
eral use. From the laster the shoe goes to the sole-layer, whom we numlier'^23 ; 
next to the McKay stitcher, 24 ; and then on to the beater-out, 25 ; trimmer, 26 ; 
edge-setter, 27 ; liner, 28 ; nailer, who fastens on the heel, 29 ; shaver, 30 ; buf- 
fer, 31 ; burnisher, 32 ; channeller, 33 ; and the shoe which started as a numl)er 
of abstract particles so little time ago, is now completed ready to be stamped and 
placed in neat paper cartons by the packer, and shipped to its destination. In 
our enumeration we ha\e named only those who perform the most important 
parts in the making of a shoe. But in the different processes of tanning the 
leather and numerous subordinate parts in the shoe factory, the united laljor of 
more than fifty people are required to produce a modern pair of ladies' shoes. 

The shoe and leather industry is found clustered as closely as possible about 
the railroad, and in the "shoe district;" the most of the buildings wh'ch are 
not occupied as manufactories of shoes or leather are devoted either to some 
branch of business intimately associated therewith, or to the dispensing of 
animal comforts. This district lies almost wholly between Liberty and Market 
streets, and Broad, Silsbec and Mulberry streets. Some of the finest factories 
in the city are on Willow street. Looking down the street toward Central 
square at any hour of the day, one gets a vivid impression of the busy life that 
constantly throbs through this street and the great artery beyond. On the rio-ht 
are the buildings occupied by the Lynn Shoe Supply Co. and T. J. Little & 
Co. ; on the left the factories of Keene Brothers, A. M. & J. H. Preble, W. A. 
Dole & Whittredge, and M. J. Worthley and the leather firm of Lothrop & 
Bowen. Passing Oxford street, on the left are seen the large Tebbetts foctory 
and the fine Mower build- ^, ^^ ^ 



ing. Included in this sec- 
tion is the large building 
occupied by Morgan & 
Dore, on Oxford street, 
shown on page seventy- 
nine. This enterprising ' 
firm do only a portion of ^ 
their business in Lynn, 
having large factories at 
Pittsfield, N.H., and Rich- 
mond, Me. Keene Bros. 
also do a large business at 
Skowhegan,Me. Passing 
into Central square, we 
get an animated view of 
that busy center. On the 



/" - 




rht 



CHAS. D. PECKER &. CO.'S FACTOkY. 

is the large Fuller block, occupied by 



74 



LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 




Charles D. Pecker & Co., who also have a large factory at Great Falls, N. H., 
and by numerous express and other offices. Many of the buildings on the square 
are scarcely appropriate to the place they occupy, but in the march of progress 
they will doubtless ere long be replaced by more comely structures. Mt. Vernon 
street is occupied by some of our most enterprising firms. The sign of L. S. 
Johnson on the corner, and the name of F. W. Breed, have come to be legarded 
as landmarks, and the whole street has a substantial and prosperous aiDpearance. 
Exchange street, the Fine street of the olden time, is a busy spot, but the build- 
ings are mostly small and of wood. Union street, from the square to Broad 
street, has, during the past 
few years, taken rapid 
strides forward, and now 
some of our strongest Ji 
firms and best equipped lii 
factories are located here. ^ 
The Brown and IngalK 
buildings, on the left 
were the first brick fac- 
tories on the street. Thr 
Ashcroft building, on the 
corner of Washington antl 
Union streets, is a sub- 
stantial and comely struc 
ture, and some live firms 
are located in it. The 
firm of Shepherd, Murphy 
& Co., who occupy the 
corner store, are among 
our most enterprising 
young concerns, who do 
a safe and constantly in- -. _ 

creasing business. The central square. 

firm of John S. Bartlett & Co. occupy the large building on the opposite corner, 
successors of the name and fame of the old firm of B. F. Doak & Co. The new 
Buftum block, opposite Washington street, is a handsome structure, and a de- 
cided ornament to that section. The factory of Mr. J. N. Smith was one of the 
first large buildings built in this section, and is one of the few large wooden fac- 
tories now remaining. The large Alley building, near the foot of the street, is a 
very convenient, well-equipped block, and is occupied by Kimball Brothers, 
who also have a large factory in Gardiner, Me., and the firm of Charles Buflum 
& Co., a substantial firm of long standing. Mr. Buftum antedates most of the 
shoe manufacturers in Lynn now in active business. Broad street was at one 
time headquarters for much of the business done in the town, but its glory 
has in a measure departed. The handsome factory of V. K. & A. H. Jones, 
on the corner of Beach street, and the large block at the head of Buflxim's wharf, 
are the only large factories on this street. The lower end of Market street has 
always been identified with the shoe and leather industry. In the cut previously 





LEADING INDUSTRIES. 75 

shown of this thoroughfare in 1S20 are numerous tanneries and shoe shops. 
The Lennox block on the right, and the Lancaster and tlie Martin buildings on 
the left, are substantial and commodious structures. The large blocks of facto- 
ries on either side of the street above the railroad, erected many years since by 
Hon. Samuel jM. Bubier, contribute a fixed, settled aspect to that section which 
is lacking in some parts of the city. Mr. Bubier has been identified with the 
shoe business in Lynn for a long time. He was formerly an extensive manufac- 
turer, and has witnessed all the changes which have taken place. He has now 
retired from that branch of the business, and devotes himself to the care of his 
large property and to supplying power to many buildings in the vicinity of 




THE ASHCROFT BUILDING, UNION STREET. 

Market street, besides his own. He has al\va\s taken an active interest in the 
affairs of the town, and served one term as mayor in 1877- ^Slnnroe street has 
several large factories, notably that of P. P. Sherry, which at the time of its 
erection was the highest building in the city. Mr. Sherry laid down the prin- 
ciple, which has since been extensively followed, that land grows cheaper the 
higher up vou go ; but considerations quite as potent as that named are tlie good 
light and freedom from dust afforded by the upper rooms in high buildings, 
which is essential to good workmanship, particularly in the finishing rooms. 
On Oxford street is the handsome new building of D. A. Caldwell & Co., occu- 
pied by D. A. Caldwell & Co. and J. F. Swain & Co., erected in 1SS5. This 



76 



LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 



is one of the best apjDointed factories in the city, and in the design of the front 
elevation, more attention was paid to architectural effect than has been done in 
the plans of many of our large factories. The other large establishments on 
Oxford street are those of C. S. Sweetser and Aaron F. Smith, and the hand- 
some new building erected on the site of C. A. Coffin's factory, burned in iSS: 
Passing out Washington street we come to 
the large block, recently completed, of Val- 
pey & Anthony, one of the finest in the 
city. The course of our wanderings has 
brought us nearly back to the point of start- 
ing, and during our walk we have inspected 
the principal part of the shoe district. 

The list of shoe manufacturers in Lynn 
number one hundred and seventy-six, rang- 
ing from single individuals manufacturing 
in a small way to large corporations and 
firms running several large factories and 
employing hundreds of hands. Nearly all 
grades of women's shoes and slippers are 
made, from the cheapest slipper to the finest 
French kid boot. 

The methods of transacting the shoe 
business have changed quite as much as 
first a home market was found for most of the product. 




THE ALLEY BUILDING, UNION STREET. 

the processes of manufacturing. At 




Then, after the coming 
of Dag}r and the improvements in the workmanship and quality of the goods 
which he introduced, the surplus found a market in Boston, being transported 
^- — thither in bags, boxes, or 

in any convenient pack- 
age, sometimes on the 
backs of the bosses, who 
walked to Boston and re- 
turned in the same man- 
ner, but more commonly 
by team. After the close 
of the War of the Revo- 
lution, the business be- 
came very much de- 
pressed, owing to the 

m|'<- ' ""^^^^^^^^fe^^^^^^ competition of shoes 
'^M^'-'r — -^-" ^^^^^ ^^^ made abroad. The mat- 

ter was brought to the 
attention of Congress, 
then in session in Phila- 
nn, and Stephen Collins, 
a native of Lynn, but doing business in Philadelphia ; and a tariff was placed 
upon foreign shoes, which had the immediate effect of reviving the industry. 
Thus the shoe manufacturing industry was the first to be taken under the 



S 



V. K. & A. H. JONES' FACTORY, BROAD STREET. 

delphia, through the efforts of Ebenezer Breed, of Lj 



LEADING INDUSTRIES. 



77 



protecting wing of the Government. Mr. Breed suhseqnentl}' introduced into 
the city the manufacture of morocco leather, for whicli he received a vote of 
thanks from the National Committee of Manufactures and Commerce. He also 
secured the establishment of the Lynn Post-Otiice in 1793. For many 3'ears he 
did a very large business, but late in life 
misfortune overtook him, and he ended his 
days in the almshouse. Much of the man- 
ufacturing sixty years ago w^as done by Mi- 
cajah C. Pratt, James Pratt, Nathan Breed, 
Isaiah Breed and Nathan D. Chase, whose 
manufactories were all on Broad street. 
Isaiah Breed's office was in his dwelling- 
house on what is now the corner of Broad 
and Exchange streets. For many years 
they received very little money for their 
goods, but took their pay in barter, and in 
turn paid their workmen in orders on store. 
keepers in Lynn and Salem. This system 
kept the workmen always poor and in del)t^ 
and in 1S43 they rebelled against it, and 
have since received their pay in cash. 
From Boston the shoes were sent South, 
and for many years were sold at auction, oftentimes being sent thither by car- 
goes, the first full cargo being sent in iSiS. Between 1S20 and 1S29 this was 
abandoned and the jobbers from the ^luthcm -' < ^ c mie hither to purchase, 




THE NEW BUFFUM BLOCK, UNION STREET. 



th it they migl 





FACTORY OF C. H. ABORN & CO. AND C. W. VARNEY & CO., 
BROAD STREET. 



;ht be 
' !e the better to select 
>ds suitable for their 
dities. This cus- 
m IS still kept up to a 
(iL^ice, but twice each 
\ c u the large manufac- 
is send their sales- 
n west and south, 
^^ lio bring their sam- 
ples to the attention of 
e\ei\ dealer whose cus- 
tom is worth having. 
These salesmen are, 
\\ itli rare exceptions, 
ung men of character 
1 proved capacity, 
who do credit to the 
industry which they 



represent. If there be any modern tendency in the trade toward a change, it is 
to be found in the disposition of many of the large houses to sell directly to re- 
tailers without the inten-ention of middle-men, and there are those who predict 



78 



LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 




that this system will be the outcome of the present degree of comjDetition among 
manufacturers. 

Tanning became an industry in Lynn some years before shoemaking was 
introduced. Francis Ingalls, who came hither with his brother Edmund, chose 
for his habitation the pleasant slope which leads down to Swampscott beach, 
and on Humphrey street, by the 
brook, built his tannery, and Alonzo 
Lewis states that he saw the remains 
of the vats used in curing the leather. 
The business was continued for many 
years with varying success, at times 
highly prosperous, and at times 
leather could be bought in other 
markets cheaper than it could be 
manufactured here ; but in these last 
years the bulk of the business has 
centered about Salem and Peabody. 
In iSoo, through the ellbrts of Eben- 
ezer Breed, the manufacture of mo- 
rocco leather was introduced. The 
first factory was established by Wil- 
liam Rose on the south side of the the lennox block, market street. 
Common, opposite wdiere the fountain now is. This industry has grown with 
the tow^i, and now is only second in importance to the manufacture of shoes. 
The manufactories are not confined to any particular section of the city. The 
mammoth establishment of A. B. Martin & Co. on Market street, and of Henry 
A. Pcvcar & Sons near Boston street, are among the largest in town. Several 

large concerns are located in Harrison 
.court, others on Munroe, Broad and 
Beach streets. The large factory of Lu- 
cius Beebe & Sons, on Western avenue, 
is one of the most complete establish- 
ments of its kind in the East. There are 
twenty-seven firms engaged in this branch 
of manufacture, and the pi-oduct finds a 
market in nearly every shoe town in the 
country. In addition to the two leading 
branches of the shoe and leather industry 
already mentioned, there are many others 
directly contributory to them. Among 
them may be mentioned fifty-seven dealers 
and manufacturers of boot and shoe soles, 
heels, stiffenings, &c., sixty-six stitching- 
rooms, twenty dealers and manufacturers of findings and supplies, thirteen 
manufacturers of boot and shoe machinery, besides numerous other sub-divisions 
of the business. In the production of labor-saving machinery Lynn mechanics 
have made several notable contributions, which are to be seen in every well- 




D. A. CALDWELL & CO.'S FACTORY, 
OXFORD STREET. 



LEADIXr; INDUSTRIES. 79 

regulated shoe factory. One of the hitcst inventions, and one which promises to 











MOIIGAX cV: DORE ^ I \e 1 OIl\ , 0\I OKI) s FK' LI 

become of great practical utility, is a lasting machine which lasts a shoe perfectly 







LUCIUS i;k]:]je ct soxs' factory, west lynn. 



80 



LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 



ww;" 





u ^ 




LEAD1\( ; INI )USrRIKS. 



SI 



in the time a shoemaker ofhfty years ago woiiUl be getting his tools together. 
Another industry inseperably allied to the mamitacture of shoes is the making of 
wood and paper boxes. In the manufacture of the latter, machinery has largely 
taken the place of the former hand pi-ocesses. The improvenu-nt in the stvle 
and appearance of the shoes in the last fifty years is no more marked than the 
changes in the manner of sending out the gootls to market. It was a long step 
from the bags and barrels formerly in use, and the neat, and often highly orna- 
mented, individual carton in which the shoes are now packed. 

The factories of the Thomson-Houston Electric Co., on Western Avenue are 
among the most extensive works of the kind in the country, and give employ- 
ment to a large number of men. They manufacture supplies and machinery for 
the electric-lighting companies, and their products find a ready market. 

The general business of Lynn, aside from the special lines of manufacture 
already described, is composed chiefly of local retail trade. The section of 
Union street above Central square, and of Market street between Andrew and 
Essex streets, are chiefly given over to this branch of business. Lynn has a 
number of large firms engaged in the dry goods, clothing and house furnishing 
business, and the business in these lines is constantly increasing, the people 
being able to purchase about as advantageously here as in the large market of 
Boston. As in most manufacturing towns where wages are paid weekly, the 
rush of business comes on Saturday, and no more animated spectacle can he 
seen in any city than is presented on Market and Union streets on any pleasant 
Saturday evening. 

Taking all things into consideration, the facilities for carrying on the leading 
industries, the nearness of the city to the great business centres of New England 
and the ease of railroad communication therewith, the excellence of her home 
markets, and her beautiful and healthful location, the advantages of Lynn, either 
for business or residence, are surpassed by no New England city. 



ft C)Wfilr^' 





SLIDING ROCK, LYNN BEACH. 




^^ong t>he ^hu^&hes^ 



THE first church in Lynn was formed in May, 1633, three yeai's after the 
settlement of the town. In the order of church organizations in the Mas- 
sachusetts colony, this was fifth — the church in Salem first ; next, that in 
Charlestown, which was afterwards removed to Boston ; next, that in Dor- 
chester ; next, in Roxbury ; next, in Lynn. All the churches organized prior 
to that in Lynn have ceased to be numbered among the churches of the Puritan 
faith ; and the same is true of those planted before it in the Plymouth colony. 
Thus it may be said that the First Church in Lynn has been longer on the ground 
where it was originally planted than any Congregational Church in America, 
and the claim is made that it is the oldest living Congregational Chui-ch in the 
world. The little house on Shepard street, which for fifty years sei-ved the pur- 
poses of a church, was a very modest structure, 
and the room where the people met for wor- 
ship has been aptly described as " a basement 
with no up-stairs," the floor being several feet 
below the ground outside. In 16S3 the main 
portion of the house was moved to the Com- 
^--=- mon, and was metamorphosed into that sin- 
gular architectural curiosity known as the Old 
THE ORIGINAL FIRST CHURCH. Tuunel. The porch of the Shepard street 

house finally found its way to Harbor street, where it still does humble duty as 
part of a dwelling. The country was sparsely settled, and though the church 
was made up of people from Lynn, Lynnfield and Saugus, the little house was 
ample for all requirements for half a century. The Old Tunnel meeting-house 
stood in the middle of the Common, and was the center of spiritual influences 




AMONG THE CHURCHES. 



83 



for the community for many years. Nearly square in form, with windows 
somewhat irregularly placed, and the bell-tovvcr on the center of the roof, it at a 
distance must have borne a striking likeness to that useful article whose name it 
subsequently bore. It was originally built without pews, and permission to 
build them was granted from time to time by vote of the town. Each person 
built his pew according to a plan of his own, so at last the interior of the church 
must have had a sort of crazy-quilt appearance. This house kept its place till 
1837, when it was removed to the corner of Commercial and South Common 




"the old tuxxei.. 
streets, and lemodeled. Here it served the purposes of the society ten years 
more, when its new church on the corner of Vine and South Com- 
mon streets was completed. This was a commodious edifice, although it 
might not be set down as a triumph in church architecture. On the afternoon 
of Christmas, 1S70, the house took fire from some defect in the heating appara- 
tus, and was consumed. The society immediately set about the task of rebuild- 
ing. The corner-stone of the present beautiful structure was laid on the loth 
of the following Mav, and the house was dedicated on the 29th of August, 1S73, 
witli appropriate services. It is interesting to note the steps in the evolution of 



84 



LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 




SECOND LXUKliSAI.lST CHUKCll, lOK.MKRLV TllK " OLD TIXNEL." 

the present house. Each of the five successive structures is a sua^gestion of the 



attainment and prog- 
resources and in some 
plain and bare, w^ithout 
more indicative of the 
tiers, than of the ex-, 
the showy, ceremonial ^^ 



ress of the people, both in material 
of their religious ideas. The first, 
stove or comfortable seats, was not 
straitened circumstances of the set- 
reme revolt of the Puritans from 
worship of the Anglican church. 
^The Old Tunnel shows something 
I of the returning swing of the pend- 
ulum, and in its dav was considered 




I-IKST CHIRCII," BURNED IN 1870 



AMONG THE CHURCH MS. 
quite remarkable as an architectural achievtMiipni •.„ i 

discovered that ,l,ei,- hi,,t„nc meeting-house was becon^in. 1- s ',, 
soon the „an,c bv wl.ici, it has passed into history was appUe.Fin ,' die ',,:;,:;!.; 




SOl^TH COMMON ST. 



its fate was sealed. Each of the succeedin<i^ houses shows progress in the like 
direction, and was the best the means of the society and the skill of the times 
could produce. At the beginning, when the membership of the church com- 
prised every family in town, substantially, scattered over the territorv of .Saugus, 



^^ LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 

Lynnfield, Lynn, Nahant and Swa.npscott, two pastors were required who in 
companson with the slender means of the settlers, were given a generous sup- 
port, though Mather remarks: " The ungrateful inhabitants of Lvnn one year 
passed a vote that they could not allow their ministers above Shirty pounds 
apiece that year for their salary, and behold, God, who will not be mocked 
immediately caused the town to lose more than three hundred pounds in the 
smgle ai-ticle of their cattle, by one disaster." They were not always so poorly 
paid, for Mr. Whiting left an estate as good as six thousand dol^ 
^rs, and had, moreover, educated three sons at Harvard. In course of time 
Mr. Cobbe was translated to Ipswich and Mr. Whiting to heaven, and Rev 
Jeremiah Shepherd was called to the pastorate, wd.ich office he filled acceptably 
for many years. It was under his administration that the Old Tunnel was 
erected^ and it did service one hundred and forty-five years. Shortly before his 
death Rev Nathaniel Henchman was installed as colleague, and after the death 
of the aged pastor, continued as sole incumbent of the pastoral office His Das 
torate was filled with bitterness and dissatisfaction. He died in 1763. Follow- 
ing him m the pastoi-al office were Rev. John Treadwell, 1763, Rev. Obadiah 
Parsons, 1784, Rev. Thomas C. Thacher, 1794, Rev. Isaac Hurd, 18x3, Rev. 
Otis Rockwood, iSrS, Rev. David Peabody, 1S33, Rev. Parsons Cooke, 1836, 
Rev. James M. Whiton, 1865, Rev. Stephen R. Dennen, 1S72, Rev Waher 

Barton, 1876, Rev. F. J. Mundy, __ ^_ _ ' 

1885. At the close of Mr. Shep- ^7 ' ^ 

herd's ministry the church was 
united and prosperous. From 
that time until the time of Mr. 
Rockwood the ancient society had 
its ups and downs, mostly the lat- 
ter, and during the pastorate of 
Mr. Parsons the church was re- 
duced to five male and twenty -one 
female members, caused by one 
hundred and eight members of the 
church, including both deacons, 
witlidrawing and uniting, with 
otliers, to form the First Method- 
ist Church. Under Mr. Rock- 
wood's earnest ministry the tide 
was turned. Numerous additions 
were made to the church, and its 
position in the community made 

much more creditable. In Rev. REv. parsons cooke. 

Parsons Cooke the society and the foith had a strong and earnest champion. 
He impressed his vigorous personality not only upon the church, but upon the 
town, and under his leadership the church was placed in good financial condi- 
tion and Its constituency still further enlarged. The Washingtonian temperance 
movement, the incident of the Comeouters, and the discussions pro and con 
concerning Methodism, took place during his ministry, and in each of them he 




AMONG THE CHURCHES. 



87 



1 strong- men, he had many devoted friends, and 
■y way to undermine liis influence. lie wielded 
spirit. Ids history of rehi^ious 



w 



the 



bore a memorable part. Like a 

bitter enemies \vho sought in eve 

a prolific pen, and aside from its contro\ersial 

movements in Lvnn is both complete and interesting. 

The First Church hive lias swarmed six times. First came out tl 
End or Saugus Church; afterward the church in Lvnnliejd ; then c; 
secession of the majority of the church to the Mctlifxlists ; afterw ard the church 
in SwamjDscott was set otTfrom its membership ; and later still, both the Central 
and North Churches. And aside from this enumeration, as \um\\ more have 
gone singly from its communion to other societies in the place. Despite its 
years, the Society is still as full of vigor and life as any of its children. A com- 
plete history of this church would be a history of the town. In the earlv years 
the church organization was substantially the municipal body. During the 
Quaker discussions, the chiuxh was the principal opposing fixctor. In the days 
of the Revolution the pastor of the church headed the committee of public safety, 
and in all the lapse of years no influence has been more potent in shaping the 
course of events than the old First Church. 

The Central Congregational Church was organized in 18^0, chiefly from 

the membership of the First Church, and 

their first church building was dedicated 

in December of the same year. This 

\ building was enlarged and beautified in 

■ 1S64, and the following year was burned. 

The present handsome structure was 

completed in 1S68, and is one of the 

most eon\Lnient 




CENTRAL COXGRICGATIOXAI. CIICKC 



churches in the citv- It is situated on the corner of Silsbee and iMt. \'cr 
streets, very convenient and accessible, though the ruml>le of passmg tram 
sometimes painfully apparent. 1 1 ■ ,- 

The North Church was formed in 1S70, largely from the memlK-rslup ot 
First Church, and though youngest among the Congregational churches ot 
city, is largest in point of membership ; and as the section ot the oty m wine 
is located is growing more rapidly than any other, it is destined to c..ntnu.e to 
an important place among the churches of Lynn. The pastor. Rev James 
Hill, has been with the church since 1S75, and is the oldest m othce ot 



non 
s is 

the 
the 
h it 
. fiU 
L. 
any 



88 



LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 




pastor among the Protestant 
churches in the city. Mr. 
Hill was born in a home mis- 
sionary cabin in Iowa, and 
graduated from Iowa College 
in iS7i,and in 1S75 from An- 
dover Theological Seminary. 
He immediately assumed the 
pastorate of this church, to 
which he had been previously 
unanimously called. Under 
his wise leadership the church 
has had a steady growth. In 



sj^gi 1 878 he was chosen by th;: 



Legislature to preach the elec- 
tion sermon, which was done 
at the Old South Meeting- 
Ilouse. In 1881 jSIr. Hill vis- 
ited Europe, and in 1SS3 was 
chosen to deliver the Alumni 
oration at his Alma Mater. 
He was active in promoting 
the formation of the Associa- 
ted Charities. As a public 
speaker, JSIr. Hill has few 
superiors. His relations with 



NORTH CHURCH, LAIGHTOM ST. 

his people are of the most cordial na- 
ture, and he has declined flattering 
calls from other places to remain 
here, it being, as is frequently said, 
a love-match between him and his 
people. 

The second meeting-house in 
Lynn was erected in 1678 for the use of 
the Society of Friends, and was situa- 
ted on a spot known as Wolf Hill, 
on Broad street. It stood in front 
of the present Friends' burying- 
ground, where it remained until 1 723, 
The next house was built near the 
front line of that enclosure. This 
structure was used until 1816, when 
it was sold, and a more commodious 
meeting-house built near the same 
place, where it remained until 1852, 
when it was removed to its present 




REV. JAMES L, 



AMONG THE CHURniKS. 



89 



location on Silsbee street. The old house passed through various hands, and 
now serves as an office for the lumber firm of S. N. Breed & Co. on tlie 
corner of Beach and Broad streets. Now this location is bein,<( improved 
by the erection of a more commodious structure, and the little historic church 
will doubtless disappear, though its timbers arc as sound as tlie theoloc-v 
formerly expounded in it. The society at present, though not large as com- 
pared with many others, is active and flourishing and, after the custom of tlie 
sect, has several ministers, Micajah M. Binford, William O. Newhall and Abi- 
gail C. Beede. Recent repairs have much improved the appearance of tlie 
church, and in its setting of trees, has a quiet, retired settled look (juite 
appropriate to the oldest church building in use as a church in the city. 

Methodism took early root in Ljnn. 
The Rev. Jesse Lee had introduced this 
religious system into Connecticut in 1790, 
establishing a number of classes in the vi- 
cinity of Bridgeport. The following year 
he came to Boston, where for a time ]\v 
labored, with poor success. Shortly after 
he came to Lynn, on invitation of Mr. 
Benjamin Johnson, one of the foremost 
men of the town. Tlie time was propi- 
tious in a marked degree. The dissen- 
tions which had crept into the First Church 
— which, with the Friends' Societ\-, had 
held the field until that time — caused the 
many who were dissatisfied with the exist- 
ing state of things to eagerly welcome an\ 




OLD BOWERY." 



movement which offered them release. Mr. 
Lee came directly to Mr. Johnson's house, 
which stood on ALirket street, on the pres- 
ent site of Exchange building, and there 
the fir,>t Alethodist meetings were held, whence 
the house came to be called the " birthplace 
of Methodism." Mr. Lee's coming was in 
Februarv. His first class consisted of eight 
persons, though hundreds flocked to hear his 
preaching. A week after, twenty-one were 
added. In May the number was fifty-one. 
At that time the class received the sudden ad- 
dition of one hundred and eight persons, who 
" signed off" from the First Parish. Soon the 
large dwelling-house of Mr. Johnson became 
insufficient for the worshippers, and they made 
his barn their sanctuary. The society became th c l ch 

prosperous in the highest degree. Soon the society outgrew the barn, anil it 




90 



LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 



was resolved to build a church. The first Methodist meeting-house was 
built on the site of Lee Hall, and so great was the zeal of the builders that 
the house was finished so as to be used for worship in twelve days from the 
commencement of cutting the trees in the forest, but remained innocent of laths 
and plaster for a long time. This little house had no front entrance, but was 
approached by a door on each side, and it stood so that its front projected about 
eight feet into the street, as the lines now run. It served the purposes of the 
society until 1812, when the Old Bowery was built, and the little church was 
removed to West Lynn, where it afterward became the cradle of a Baptist 
church, and later still passed into the hands of the Catholics. The new church, 
with numerous additions and alterations, held its place until the present beautiful 
edifice was completed in 1879. This building is one hundred and twenty-three 

feet in length and seventy-three in 
width, with a chapel adjoining, ninety- 
one feet in length by seventy-three feet 
in width. The affairs of the parish 
have always been ably administered, 
and it is now one of the most prosper- 
ous societies in Lynn. Rev. J. D. 
Pickles is pastor. 

St. Paul's Methodist Church, or- 
ganized in 181 1, was the second Meth- 
odist Church in Lynn, and was the first 
Methodist Cliurch in Massachusetts 
that was built with a steeple. The 
comfort of worship for many years va- 
lied according to the weather, as no 
btove was introduced until 1831. In 
Xovember, 1859, ^^""^ house was de- 
stro^'ed by fire, but within nine months 
the house now standing had been fin- 
shed ready for occupancy. Rev. \V. 
R. Clarke is pastor. The South Street 
M. E. Church was organized in 1830, 
and the house now standing was erected 
the same year. It was originally a 
ST. PAUL'S METHODIST CHURCH. pj^j^^ Substantial edifice without a 

steeple. The building has been altered and beautified until it is one of the 
prettiest churches in the city. The pastor is Rev. Samuel Jackson. The Boston 
Street M.E. Church was organized in 1853, and the church was erected in 1853. 
The building has been enlarged from time to time, and the church is one of the 
most active and efficient in the city. Rev. A. TvIcKeown is pastor. The Maple 
St. M. E. Society was organized in 1851, though religious services had been held 
in that vicinity for inany years. Their church on the corner of Chestnut and Ma- 
ple streets was dedicated in 1872, and is a very neat and convenient edifice. Rev. 
W. B. Toulmin is pastor. The African Methodist Episcopal Society, organ- 
ized in 1856, has a very comfortable, thougli plain, house of worship on Mailey 




AM()N(; rilK ClIURCIIK 



is the youn<2jest of 
in 1S73 as a mis,'- 



le Mctliodist 
u enterprise, 
d still remains with the society. 




SOUTH STREET METHODIST CHURCH. 



Street. Trinity Church, on Tower Hill 

churches in Lynn, having been formed 

Rev. Alonzo Sanderson v^as appointed pastor 

The church edifice on the corner of Boston 

and Ashland streets was dedicated in 1874. 

The Methodist Church, both in number of 

societies and in membership, outnumbers any 

other denomination in Lynn. 

The First Baptist Society was organized 

in 1S15, but the Baptist belief found lodg- 
ment in Lynn very soon after the settlement 

of the town, not, however, without encoun- 
tering decided opposition. As early as 16^0 

we find Joseph Rednap being brought t 

book because he could not accept the do 

trine of infant baptism, and for the sam 

reason Lady Deborah IVIoody, a most esti- 
mable huh', who owned a fine farm in 

Swampscott, was so beset by tlie elders i 1 

the church that she sold her property an 

removed to New York, where old Govenu 

Stuyvesant received her hospitably. In 165 1 

three men, whose names were John Clarke, 

John Crandall and Obadiah Hohnes, came hither from Newport, R. L, in 

which state a degree of religious liberty, not dreamed of in Massachusetts, was 

enjoyed. They went to the house of William 
Witter in Swampscott, where INIr. Clarke 
preached, and rebaptized Mr. Witter. This 
being reported to the authorities, two constables 
went down to Swampscott and arrested them. 
That night they were kept under guard at the 
Old Anchor Tavern, and the next day were 
sent to Boston and imprisoned. Ten day, 
afterward they were brought before the courts 
and Mr. Holmes was fined thirty pounds, Mr. 
Clarke twenty, and Mr. Crandall five. The 
fines of the two latter were paid, but Mr. Hounes 
refused to pay his or allow it to be paid, and 
was retained in prison until September, when 
he was publicly whipped, receiving thirty stripes 
on the bare back. The whijD was made of three 
cords with knotted ends, and the record has it 

_^ that the executioner spat three times on his own 

C -^^^^^L. - :'-'"-—- " ^ hands, that he might honor justice. And in a 

dO:>tonTtrc£T Methodist church, manuscript left by Governor Joseph Jenks, it is 

written that "Mr. Holmes was whii)peJ 30 stripes, and in such an unmerciful 

manner that for many days, if not some weeks, he could not take rest but as he 




92 



LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 



lay upon his knees and elbows, not being able to suffer any part of his body to 
touch the bed." When he was released, two spectators, John Shaw and John 
Hasel, went up and took hold of his hand to sympathize with him, for which 
they were fined forty shillings each. William Witter was made of different 
metal. He was presented at Salem Court for his connection with the affair, 
and the following record was made: "William Witter, now comeing in, 
answered humbly, and confessed his Ignorance, and his willingness to see 
Light, and (upon Mr. Norris, our Elder, his speech) seemed to be staggered. 
Inasmuch as he came in court meltinglie, sentence — Have called our ordenance 
of God, a badge of the Whore — on some Lecture day, the next 5th day, being a 
public fast, To acknowledge his fait, and to ask Mr. Cobbett forgiveness, in 
saying he spok against his conscience. And enjoined to be heare next court att 
Salem." After this, the coming of the Qiiakers and the antics of the witches 
kept the authorities too busy to attend to minor matters of belief. 

In May, 181 5, the First Baptist ^ Society purchased the 

meeting-house which the Methodist ^ society had vacated, and 

as if to emphasize the change of sen- i timent that had taken 

place, this house was placed on land jl purchased of the First 

Congregational Church, in full sight m of their own house of 

worship — the very church which had lln persecuted the Baptists, 

and delivered them over to the au- /flll thorities to be punished, 

one hundred and |HI sixt} -four years before. 

This building had .^-^ llSI ^ checkered career, being 

last of all occupied ^^ k WM, ^v the Catholics, and was 




u.UJ-'L- 



1 IKsl 15 \1'I isl c m RCII 

burned in 1S59. The edifice at present occupied by the society was erected in 1S67. 
It is a commodious and comfortable house. Rev. F. T. Hazlewood is pastor. 



AMONG THE CHURCHES. 



93 



The Second or Washington Street 
Bajitist Society was established in 1851. 
Serv'ices were first held in Union Hall on 
Union street, and in 1S58 the church on 
High street was dedicated. In 1874 the 
beautiful church on the corner of Essex and 
Washington streets was built, which is one 
of the finest chinch edifices in town. The 
pastor is Rev. Benjamin A. Greene. The 
Third Baptist Society, in Wyoma, was or- 
ganized in 1 858, and services were regu- 
larlv maintained until 1876. Since then 





WASHINGTON ST. BAPTIST CHURCH. 

the church has been 
served bv supplies. 
The East or Fourth 
Baptist Society was 
organized April 21, 
1S74, largely from 
members withdrawing 
from the Second Bap- 
tist Society at the time 
the move from High to 
Washington street was 
made. The society in 
the month of October 
following purchased 
the church property of 
the Free Bapti.st Soci- 
ety on Union street, 
and is now known as 
the East Baptist 
Church. The pastor 
is Rev. Henry Hinck- 
ley. The Union Street 
Freewill Baptist 
Church was organized 
Sept. 7, 1S71. After 
tlie sale of its church 
property to the ICast 
Bapti.st Society, the 
church on High street 
was purchased, and 
now the society is in a 
verv prosperous condi- 
tion. The pastor is 
Rev. John Malvern. 



EAST BAPTIST CHURCH, UNION ST. 



94 



I.VXN AND SURROUNDINGS. 



The Chestnut Street Church was formed in 1S57 ^^Y ^^^ Baptists, by wliom 
worship was maintained for many years. The church building is now occupied 
by the Chestnut Street Congregational Society, who have within a year repaired 
and beautified it, and the society is enjoying a career of prosperity hitherto 
unknown. Rev. Jay N. Taft is pastor. 

The Second Congregational Society was organized April 5, 1S32, and their 
first house of worship was dedicated the following year. In the summer of 1S53 
the church edifice on South Common St. was enlarged and remodeled. This 
is the only Unitarian Society in Lynn. Rev. Samuel B. Stewart is pastor. 




FIRST UNIVERSALIST CHURCH, NAHANT ST. 

The First Universalist Society was foi'med in 1S33, though Universalism 
had been preached in Lynn alternately since 181 1. For three years services 
were held in the Town Hall, and in 1835 the society built a church on Union 
street, near Silsbee. In 1850 this house was enlarged and re-dedicated, and in 
1864, to meet the growing demands of the society, the house was again enlarged. 
The corner-stone of the church on Nahant street was laid in May, 1873, and the 
church was dedicated Sept. 18, 1873. The tower was not completed until 1886. 
The cost of the church and site was $140,000. It is one of the finest church 
structures in New England, and an ornament to the town. This church has 
had a remarkable growth, and has had some very able men as pastors. 



AMONC; TIIH CHURCHES. 



i"^ 



In point of membership and the munher of people directly and indirectly con- 
nected with it, it is the largest Universalist church in tiie world, so far as is 
known. The Sunday school numbers upwards of seven hundred . Rev. Janu ^ M. 
Pullman, D. D., pastor of the 
church, is one of the most 
prominent clergymen of his 
denomination in the country. 
He was born at Portland, 
Chautauqua Co., N. Y., Au- 
gust 21, 1836, and graduated 
from St. Lawrence Divinity 
School, Canton, N. Y., in 
i860. During the succeeding 
eight years, he was pastor of 
the First Universalist Church, 
Troy, and from there he 
went to the Church of Oin- 
Saviour, New York citv, 
where he remained until he 
was called to Lynn in 1S85. 
During this long pastorate of 
seventeen years, he made a 
reputation, not only in the 
pulpit, but in all the depart- 
ments of church work, which 
placed him in the front rank 
of American ministers of the 
Gospel. He has a marked 
talent for organization, and in Rev. j. m. pullman, o. o. 

this line he has achieved some of his most pronounced successes. During his pas- 
torate in New York, the Church of Our Saviour was erected. He was the or- 
ganizer and first president of the Young Men's Universalist Association in New 
York city, and has been prominently connected with the leading educational 
institutions of his denomination in New York. Since his residence in Lynn, 
his church, always a strong and active organization, has largely extended its 
influence, and his strong personality is felt in each line of eftort put forth by the 
society. 

The Second Universalist Church was formed in 1836, and in 1839 it pur- 
chased the church on the corner of So. Common and Commercial streets, formerly 
the Old Tunnel, which they still occupy. Rev. John C. Mclnerney is pastor. 

The Christian Church was organized in 1835. The first church was built 
the same vear on the south side of Silsbee street, next to the railroad bridge. 
In 1840 the present church was built, and in 1S80 this was remodeled and the 
tower added. Rev. A. A. Williams is the pastor, having been with the society 
since 1S77. 

For two hundred years after its settlement, the Episcopal .system found the 
New England atmosphere uncongenial. An attempt was made to form a 




96 



LYiNTN AND SURROUNDINGS. 




CHRIST CHURCH. 



church here in 1S19. Services were contin- 
ued in the Lynn Academy for some two 
years, when they were abandoned. In 1S34 
a society was formed, wliich took the name 
of Christ Church. Occasional sei'vices were 
held during that year, and regular service 
was begun on the first Sunday of January, 
1S35, at Liberty Hall. These services were 
continued, with little interruption, for two 
years, and July 20, 1S37, a church edifice 
which had been erected during the year 
was consecrated. This modest structure 
stood on North Common street, between 
Franklin avenue and Hanover street. Meet- 
ings were maintained until 1841. In 1844 a 
reorganization was effected. The name now 




IXTERIOR OF ST. STEPIIKXS. 



borne by the society adopted, and the church edifice erected in 1837 was bought. 
This house sensed the purposes of the society until the present beautiful structure 
was consecrated in 1881, This edifice was the gift to the society ofHon. E. Reding- 
tonMudge, as a memorial of his son, Charles Redington, a lieutenant-colonel in the 



AMON(; TlIK ClIURCni 



Union forces, who was killctl 
at Gettysburg, and his daugh- 
ter, Fanny Olive, who thcd 
July 3, 1S79. The corner- 
stone bad been laid on tlie 
19th of May, iSSo, and in its 
construction and furnishing 
nothing was spared that 
could add to its beauty and 
completeness. The walls are 
constructed of reddish-brown 
sandstone, with facings of 
brick. The style of architec- 
ture gives a happy combined 
effect of massive solidity and W 
gracefid outline. Viewed 
from whatever point one may 
approach it, tlie impression 
received is pleasing and in- - 
spiring, and St. vStephen's 
Church of Lynn has come to 
be reckoned among the fa- 
mous churches of the country. 
The interior is very beautiful. 
Our view is taken from the 
rear of the main audience- 
room, lookhrcf toward the chance 




m 






p-»" 




^ 



E. REDINGTON MUDGE. 





ST. STEPTIKX S CIIUKCII, SO. COMMON' 



LYxMN AND SURROUNDINGS. 



Mr. Mudge, at whose hand the society received this costly and beautiful 
trust, was a son of Rev. Enoch Mudge, a native of Lynn, but for many years 
resident in Orrington, Maine. His business talent was of the highest order, 
and he used his large fortune as a ti'ust to be administered for the benefit of his 
fellow-men and the city of his adoption. His mental qualities were such as to 
easily place him among the foremost in any company. He enjoyed the esteem 
and respect of his neighbors and friends in a marked degree. The building of 
St. Stephen's was regarded by him, and proved to be, the crowning work of his 
life. Tlie work was pushed forward with his whole energy, that his wife, who 
was an invalid and not expected to long sunive, might witness its completion. 
But on Saturday, October i, just as the work was nearly done, he was taken ill, 
before noon had died, and his own funeral was the first sei-vice held in the nearly 
completed church. 

Rev. Frank LouisNor- 
ton, D. D., is the Rector 
of St. Stephen's Parish. 
Dr. Norton was born in 
Nonvich, Conn., and re- 
ceived his education in the 
public schools, and at Trin- 
ity College, and the Berke- 
ley Divinity School. He 
began his ministry as the 
assistant to the Rector of 
St. Thomas' Church, New 
York, and has been himself 
Rector of the Church of Our 
Saviour, Longwood, St. 
John's Church, Troy, and 
for the three j-ears previous 
to his coming to Lynn was 
Dean of the Cathedral at 
Albany, N. Y. He received 
his degree of Doctor of 
Divinity in 18S4. Always 
fond of literary pm'suits, he 
has published the " Priest's 
Book" and " The Excepts 
REV. F. L. NORTON. D.D. of Our Lord," both of 

which ran through two editions. As a preacher he is earnest and scholarly, 
and has always drawn large congregations. Under his ministry the church 
is enjoying great prosperit}^ 

The Church of the Incarnation was organized in 1885 as an offshoot from 
St. Stephen's Parish. For the first few months the society w^orshipped m Tem- 
plars' Hall on Market street. On the 25th of September the corner-stone of a 
new church on the corner of Broad and Estes streets was laid with impressive 




AMONd THE CHURCHES. 



ao 




ceremonies, IJishop Pad- 
dock and other leading 
clerg3-men assisting, and 
on the 2 1 St of the February 
following the congregation 
met for worship for the first 
time in the beautiful stone 
chapel. The work on the 
church will go forward as 
lapidly as possible. While 
the society were still wor- 
shipping as a mission, a 
call was extended to Rev. 
John L. Egbert of Vine- 
land, N. J., antl accepted 
by him. Though \et a 
CHAPEL OF THE INCARNATION. comparatively young^nan, 
Mr. Egbert had achieved a reputation as an energetic and etRcient worker. He 
is a native of Missouri, though most of his early life was spent in Kentucky. 
He completed his education at Kenyon College, in Ohio, and afterward studied 
law, being admitted to the bar in 1S70; but a year later he abandoned that pro- 
fession to prepare himself for the 

ministry, and graduatetl from the 
General Theological Seminary 
New York in 1874, and was ad- 
mitted to the priesthood in 1S75. 
From the time of his graduation 
until October, 1S76, he sei-ved as 
assistant minister of Christ Church 
Parish of Springfield, having spe- 
cial charge of the Church of the 
Good Shepherd, on the west bank 
of the river. From 1S76 to iSSr 
he was Rector of St. Peter's Parish 
at Bainbridge, Conn., and during 
that time the church was enlarged 
and beautified and greatly strength- 
ened in numbers. In the latter year 
he went to Vineland, N. J., where 
during the next four years he or- 
ganized a strong society, and se- 
cured the building and furnishing 
of a beautiful stone cliurch. He 
entered upon his work in Lynn with the same consecration and energy, and the 
results of his labors are already apparent. The Parish of the Incarnation has an 
ample field in the eastern section of the city, and a future full of promise. 

The first Catholic services were held in Lynn in the year 1S35, and there- 




KE\\ JOHN' I.. r.GBEKT. 



100 



LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 



after at intervals, in 
various private houses, 
until 184S. In that year 
Rev. Charles vSmith was 
appointed to the charge 
of Chelsea and Lvnn, 
who fitted up a small 
school-house near the 
Arcade for church pur- 
jDoses. He was succeed- 
ed in 1 85 1 by Rev. 
Patrick Strain, the pres- 
ent Rector of St. Mary's 
Chui-ch. In 1S54 the 
little church was en- 
':irged, but in 1859 ^' 
\\ as burned, and for two 
years the services were 
held in Lyceum Hall, 
which stood on the site 
of Odd Fellows' block. 
St. Mary's Church was 
built in 1861, and was 
at that time the finest 
church structure in 
Lynn. The society have 
now a large and valu- 
able property, extend- 
ST. mart's church and schooi^. ing through from South 

Common to Tremont streets. St. Joseph's Church on Union street was begun 
in 1875, and has but lately been finished. It is a large and handsome gothic 
structure, costing upwards of $75,000. Rev. J. C. Harrington is pastor. 

The following table contains the churches in Lvnn in the order in Avhich 
they were organized : 




P^irst Church 1632 

Friends' Church 1698 

First M. E. Church 1791 

St. Paul's M. E. Church 181 1 

First Baptist Church 181 6 

Second Congregational (Unitarian) Church 1822 

Maple Street Methodist Society 1829 

South Street i\I. E. Church 1830 

First Univers.ilist Society 1833 

St. Mary's Catholic Church 1S3:; 

Christian Church 18^=; 



Central Congrenational Church 1850 

Washington Street Baptist Church .... 1852 

Boston Street M. E. Church 1853 

African M. E. Church 1856 

Third Baptist Church (Wyoma) 1858 

CJiestnut Street Church 1868 

North Congregational Church 1870 

PVeewill Baptist Church 1871 

Trinity M. E. Church 1873 

East or Fourth l^aptist Society 1874 

St. Joseph's Catholic Church 1875 

Church of the Incarnation, Episcopal . . 1885 



St. Stephen's Episcopal 1836 

Second Universalist Church 1836 

Lynn has, accordingly, one church to each eighteen hundred inhabitants. 

The time has gone by when people were haled to court if they would not attend 

service m the church, and those who nodded a slcepv assent to sermons which 

they could not keep awake to hear were rudely awakened by a prod from the 



AMOX(i THE CHURCHES. 101 

pole of the tithingniau. Nevertheless the churches in Lynn aflbrd ample 
accommodation for all who may desire to worship, and in the nine denomina- 
tions represented it would seem that all shades of religious belief might find 
agreeable surroundings. Most of the churches are situated on the " foyrc 
plaine" which lies in semi-circular form around the central cliff, and arc for 
the most part convenient to the principal centres of population. Nearly all 
have bells, the St. Stephen's tower containing a fine chime placed there within 
the year, and the mellow harmony of the vesper calls are still " borne on the 
evening winds across the criirson twilight," even as thev were carried indavs gone 
bv to the summer home of Longfellow at Nahant, calling into being the following 
beautiful lines : 

O curfew of the setting sun! O Bells of Lynn ! 
(J re([uiem of the dying day ! O Bells of Lynn 1 

From the darlc belfries of yon cloud-cathedral wafted, 
Your sounds aerial seem to float, ( ) Bells of I,ynn ! 

J5orne on the evening wind across the crimson twilight, 
O'er land and sea they rise and fall, ( ) Bells of Lynn '. 

The fisherman in his boat, far out beyond the headland, 
Listens, ami leisurely rows ashore, ( > Bells of Lynn ! 

Over the shining sands the wandering cattle homeward 
Follow each other at your call, O Bells of Lynn ! 

The distant lighthouse hears, and with his flaming signal 
Answers you, passing the watchword on, O Bells of Lynn! 

And down the darkening coast run the tumultous surges, 
And clap their hands, and shout to you, O Bells of Lynn ! 

Till I'rom the shuddering sea, with your wihl incantations, 
Ye summon up tlie spectral moon, O Bells of Lynn ! 

And startled at the sight, like the wierd woman of Endor, 
Ye crv aloud, and then are still, O Bells of Lynn ! 




oWn. 



r all the places I have seen," said a Lynn 
man, lately returning from a European trip, 
''there is none which is more beautifully 
situated or possesses more natural advantages 
as a place of residence than our own city." 
Makmg all allowances for the natural parti- 
ality of a person for the place of his birth, tlie 

sent'inent will Imd i icsponse m the heart of every one who has gained a full 

acquaintance with Lynn and her Surroundings. 





MAP OF I.YNX AS IT WAS FIFTY YEARS AGO. 



GLIMPSES OF TH1-: TOWX. 



103 



our people have 

wu as it was fifty years 

oe district " 



Thus far our attention has been devoted to liistorical matters and to manv 
things relating to the business and social life of tlie city. As we turn now from 
these to obtain some glimpses of those parts of the town where 
their homes, let us pause for a second look at the to 
ago when there was no distinctively business section antl the 
invaded almost every man's door-yard. Then every street was a residence street 
and many of the places now covered by busy factories or beautiful residences 
were cultivuted as farms or still unreclaimed from the rocks and bushes. In no 
way can a more vivid idea of the clianges wrought by fifty years be gained than 
by contrasting this plan of the modest town, with its less than fifty streets, with 
a map of the modern city with its five hundred and sixty-five streets, lanes and 
courts. It was along those streets that the Qiiakers were dragged at the cart's 
tail, and the witches hurried toward the 
keeping house until they could be trans- 
ferred to the jail at Salem or Boston. It was 
from that town that the minute men marched 
to the battles of Lexington and Bunker Hill, 
and there Moll Pitcher practiced her magic 
arts. There are but few relics of those times 
still remaining. Many of our readers will re- 
call the okl shed, shown in the initial to this 
chapter, which stood on the wharf at West 
Lynn, wiicn the oldest citizen now living was a 
boy. For many years it seemed to totter upon 
its aged supports, and in 1SS5 it finally collapsed. 
Waite's well on Maple street is one of the old 
landmarks and one can almost hear the creak of 
the sweep and hear the splash of the bucket, 
as — 

"Quick to the white pebbled bottom it fell; 
Then soon with the emblem of truth overflowing 

And dripping with coolness it rose from the well." 

The okl Johnson homestead, which stood on the site of Cit}^ Hall, was re- 
Washington street, 
imd itself in the 
march of prog- 
its new dress 
mtly modern ; 
' blue tavern," 




Vv'AITE'S WELL. 








movetl t 
when it f 
wa}' of tb 
ress, and in 
looks suftici 
but the old 



THE BLUE TAVERN. 



which stood a little farther 
toward Franklin street, still 
retains its old form in its 
new location on Liberty 
street, where it does humble 
duty as a tenement. It 
j would be pleasant to go on 
scarchnig out these relics of 



104 



LYNN AND SURRCIUNDINGS. 




GLIMPSES OF THE TOWN. 



lOr, 




LOOKING DOWN MARKET STREET FROM CITY HALL SQUARE. 

a time gone by, but things of more living interest claim the attention. 

The City Hall tower offers a fine vantage ground from which to obtain a view 






m 







II 



_: —i 



THE ROLAND G. USHEK HOMESTEAD, CITY HALL SQUARE. 



106 



LYNX AND SURROUNDINGS. 



of West Lynn and the Common, and we get a better idea of the general appear- 
ance of the western part of the city from this point than from any other. In the 




.3; / u 'w^ 






llulllllUlllllllllllll |il«llllllllffil<lllllllll!IW«l»llL»ll 






.-7 i=:--^A-i>3.- 



SOLDIERS MONUMENT, CITY HALL SqUARE. 

eaidy days, before the railroad and the shoe machines overturned the old ways, 

the vicinity of the Common was about the busiest 

K^'^ , section of the town, with the Old Tunnel Meet- 






"^^SUS^ 



^:. 



FROG POND ON THE COMMON. 

ing-House in the center of the Com- "^i^«i""-J'™i"!:i:i::'^' 

mon, and tlie Town House on South Common street, 

and banks, shoe shops and stores located here and 

there. The lower end of the Common, with its. . . 

pleasant walks and beautiful flowers, is a very attractive spot, and the western 

end, with its flashing fountain, roomy stand and broad campus, offers a cool and 




GLIMPSES OF TIIK TOWX. 



107 



pleasant place for band concerts, ^vith which the city entertains the people on 
pleasant summer evenings, and open-air meetings, which are frequently held ; 




markp:t sqliare, west lyxn. 
and here Young America gathers as one boy on Fourth of July evening to see 
the fireworks. 

The Soldiers' Monument in City Hall square was erected in 1S73, and dedica- 
ted on tlie 17th of November. The design was bv John A. Jackson, a native of 




_jrj£:;r.- -^^%-^^iN^ 



THK COMMON. FROM MARKET SQUARE. 

Maine, but resident of Florence, Italy, and the casting was executed in .Aiunich. 
The cost was $30,000. The monument is not as showy in design as are many 
of its class, but it is chaste and in good taste, and adapted to the place where it 



108 



LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 



stands. The homestead of Roland G. Usher, which faces the monument, is one 

of the last remaining of the older residences which once were numerous in this 

locality. Its neighbors on Market street and the opposite side of the square 

have been swept away by the tide of improvement. At the opposite end of the 

Common is Market square, which received its 

name before Central square was dreamed of as |^ ' ^f^ 

a business centre. At one time it was the centci 





h..^^ 



LOOKING UP MALL STREET. 

of consideral)le l)usiness, which has now mostly moved down town. In 1646 the 
General Court voted, " on the motion of the Deputies ofthe to vvne of Linne : disor- 
dered that there shal be once a weeke a Market kept there on every third day of the 
weeke, being their lecture day." Market square was then a part of the Common, 
but as the lecture was held at the church on vShepard street, it is likely that the 
gathering of the people for trading would be near by on the Common, and pos- 
sibly the modern name is a leg- 
end of the meetings of two hun- 
dred years ago. From the east 
end ofthe square we get a view 
up the Common which is sugges- 
ted in the preceding picture. 
Loolqng at the Common from 
whatever standpoint, it gives 
the impression of roominess and 
invites to freedom and rest, 
though latterly the "please keep 
off the grass " sign has put in 
its appearance. Looking up 
Mall from Boston street we get 
a pleasant glimpse of the street 
ilence of John T, Moulton on 
one of the oldest streets in the 
town. The land in breed's pond.' ' ^^^'^ vicinity was a part of the 

farm of Joseph Armitage, one of the earlier settlers of Lynn, and who led a 
checkered career as the landlord of the famous Anchor Tavern for many years 




GLIMPSKS OF THE TOWN. 



109 



afterward. Mall street leads us into Boston street, whieh is also one of the historic 
streets, and many pleasant residences on this old-time thorou.^lifire date back to 
the tune when history verges upon romance. Back of 15oston street are many 
pleasant short streets which run close up to the range of rocky hills which skirt'tlic 




RESIDKNCE OF JUDGE NEWHALL, WALNUT STREET. 

town. On the sides of these hills are many beautiful residences, and their elevated 
position not only places them beyond the dust and noise of the city, but affords a 
charming outlook over the roofs of their neighbors below. One of the most pictur- 
esque is the stone cottage of Judge James R. Newhall on Walnut street. The 
views from the piazzas of this charming place are among the finest in the city. Not 
far towai'd the west is Myrtle street, which merges Into Dungeon avenue, leading 
by Breed's Pond into the woods and on to Dungeon Rock, which we visited In 
an earlier chapter. Breed's Pond, which, if it were not for the dam, would 
scai'cely be a pond at all, is nevertheless one of the prettiest of the many 



110 



LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 



pictt_y little lakes which lie so numeious 
ai ound L} nn \nd our inteiest in it as tlit 
souice ot oui water sup- 
ply is consideiabl)^ > 
heightened In the scoie 
01 moic ol \()unj^stt.rs 



^^^ 'yt^^- 




\\ho each surnmei day 
lesoit to its shoics, not 
ah\ a\ s to fish But the w ater 
- :-=-="— - ^^ ,tii ^;^ Inch it furnishes the city is 

ENTRANCE TO PINE GROVE CEMETERY, abundant and reasonably pure. 
Indeed, the excellence of the water in and about Lynn early attracted the attention of 
the settlers, and William Wood, author of New England's Prospect, says : " It 
isfarr different from the waters of England, being not so sharp, but of a fatty sub- 
stance, and of a more jettie color ; it is thought there can be no better water in the 
world ; yet dare I not prefer it before goodbeere, as some have done ; but any man 
will choose it before bad beere, whey or buttermilk." He had doubtless tasted of 

some of the numerous springs which 



^i ^-^ 



now leceive the added dignity of being 

lUcd mineral spiings. There are 

oui d 1} w ho not onl}^ agree 

\\ ith, but practice 

^^ the docti me of the 

''^*^'* ol'l histoiiin 
-^ A- <•;&•' 




THE GARDEN IN PINE GROVE CEMETERY. 



GLIMPSKS OF THE TOWN. 

Near the north end of Grove street is Lover 
one hundred and thirty-three feet in height ; and 1 
two hundred and twenty- 
four feet high. From the 
summits of these elevations 
a beautiful prospect opens 
to the view, second only 
to that obtained from High 
Rock. Returning dow n 
Washington street, we p iss 
many pleasant residences 
embowered among the 
at the junction of 
and Western ave- 
straight course 
of winter, the own- 
friendly contests to lover's leap 



111 

T^eap, a lieautiful elevation 
U'a mile west is Pine Hill, 




0' trees, and standing 
^;- Washington street 
nue. we look down the 
where, in the crisp days 
ers of fast horses try titles in 
the music of jingling bells. 
Many of our younger citizens remember the time when they trooped over the 
Johnson pasture-fence to the circus-field in the days when Washington street 
existed not even in the dream of a real estate speculator. Now the view 




JOHN W. HEALEY 



'S KESIDENCE, WASHINGTON ST. 



112 



LYNN AND SURROUNDIN(;S. 



down the street discovers a constant succession of beautiful residences, but 
very few vacant lots remaining, and these may not be so long, for houses 
spring up quickly in these days. 




CORNER OF WESTERN AVENUE AND WASHINGTON STREET. 

Highland Square is one of the pleasant places of Lynn and offers many 
advantages as a place of residence, not the least among which are the good 
air and the convenience to the business section of the city. Essex street, of 
which the square forms a part, was for many years the thoroughfare between 





VIEW DOWN WASHINGTON srRI.l.r. 



Lynn and Salem, and its devious direction points backward to the time when streets 
were only " roads " and were laid out for the convenience of the scattered commu- 
nity rather than by any system of squares and right angles. There are many pleas- 
ant residences on Highland Square, and when the city has arrived at the point 



GLIMPSES OF TIIK TOWN. qi;{ 

of a new High School building this locality will receive a sul^stantial ornament. 

At the upper side of the square we take the steps which lead up to the pleasant 

stone cottage of J. W. Hutchinson, which nestles at the very 

base of old High Rock. Mr. Jesse Hutchinson, one of tlie 

. ^ famous fomily of singers, built this cottage in 1847. ^^^ 

was one of the pioneers into the highlands, and the 

^ j^. P"-'fty cottage with its picturescjue surroundings, and 

tiie interesting memories of the band of sweet singers — 





]I1G11LA.\I) Sc^UARE. 

Jesse, Judson, John, Asa and Abbie, who in their dav ^. 

sang their way into the hearts of the northern peoj^le — which ;rr' 

cluster around it, render this to the stranger, one of the most interesting spots i 
Lynn. The house is now occupied by Mr. J. W. Hutchinson, the last sui 




RESIDENCE OF S. C. NEWHALL, HIGHLAND SQL:ARE. 



114 

viving- brother 



LYNX AND SURROUNDINGS. 



(.f th 



old time favorites. While so near we can not forbear 
taking one more view from the summit of the rock, 
breathing a thank offering, as we climb the stairs, to 

the Hutchinson who 
placed them there. 
The Highlands dis- 
tiict during the last 
ten years has been 
filling up rapidly, 
and is becoming one 
of the most desirable 
sections of the city 
for residence. Hon. 
James N. BuHum 
Breed w^ere among the first to 
undertake the work of opening up these lands, which has been rapidly pushed 
during the last few years. High Rock avenue w^is one of the first streets opened, 
and soon after High Rock street and Herbert street were built. The residence 
of A. B. Martin on High Rock avenue and the recently con)pleted house of 
Mr. Buffum on Herbert street are among the finest places in the city. Beacon 
Hill avenue, which sti'ikes boldly up over the cliff' next north of High Rock, 
is just now receiving a good deal of attention, and several fine houses have been 
erected near the summit during the past year. The residence of Hon. J. C. Ben- 




hUTCHlNSON COTTAGE. 

d Ml . Henry A. 




RESIDENCE OF A. B. MARTIN. 

nett, situatetl near the base of the cliffy has a roomy and homelike appearance and a 
substantial air, quite in contrast with many of the more modern designs in architec- 



GLnirSES OF THE TOWN. 



115 




116 



LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 



ture. As the city continues to grow, much of the expansion must inevitably be 
upon the north and east sides. Ah-eady Glenmere and Wyoma have lost their 
former appearance of suburban villages, and become integral parts of the city. 




RESIDEXCE OF HON'. J. X. BUFFUM, HERBERT STREET. 

The eastern section of the town, while not so picturesque as that which has 
thus far had our attention, has the substantial and settled appearance which 




RESIDENCE OF HON, J. C. BENNETT, BEACON HILL AVE. 

comes with time. Nahant street, leading from Broad street to the beach was 



GLIMPSES OF THE TOWN 



117 



for many years the only public highway through that section. The In.han sa 
chems, (originally pn.nounccd " savvkum ") rulc.l on Sagamore hill, and ^vhat 




XAHANT STREET. 

on the other side of the street was not unliroken forest, was used hv the settlers 
as fn-ms. The march of improvement set in hereabouts scarcely a generation 
ago, and there are those now lixing who, wiien Ocean stieet was laid out, pre- 
dicted that it woukl never be needed. How far this prediction was from the 
truth can best be seen by a visit to this part of the citv. Almost everv a\:iil;ible 




I.OOKINC; DOWN' NKWIIALI. STREET. 

building spot has been improved, and each season sees some one or more of 
the older fashioned houses replaced by a handsome modern residence. The 



118 



LYNxM AND SURROUNDINGS. 



beautiful shade trees which adorn nearly all the streets In the older settled por- 
tions of Lynn add greatly to the attractiveness of the city. The grounds about 
most of the houses in this section are spacious and tastefully laid out, and contain 




an abundance of pear and other fruit trees, to which the soil hereabouts seems 
particularly well adapted. The desirability of this section as a place of residence 
lies not more in the general beauty and quietness which prevail, it being quite 
out of the paths of trade and travel, than in the fixed character of the population, 
a large proportion of the estates being owned by the occupants. Tiie nearness 




:M 



"^^^ 



to the beach has both its advantages 

and disadvantages. The murmurings 

of the waves upon the sands when old tudor street. 

ocean is in her pleasant moods, and the thunders of the billows upon the beach 

wlicn the storm king is abroad, are the every-day music — " each day hearing, yet 



GLIMrSKS OF Tin-: TOWN. 



110 
\vIik1 



never learning the -rand majestic anthem of the ocean "—vet the evenin 

from the sea, in the hot cUn s of summer so dehghtfully cool and refreshin-^ is 

sometmies laden ^\ ith a chill and dampness which strikes to the marrow, unfdt in 




OCEAX STREET. 

those jDarts of the city further back from the water. jMan\- of the hest resi- 
dences in this section are to be found on Ocean street. These are nearly all of 
modern build. And those on the easterly side ha\e an outlook tlirectlv upon the 
water, and their grounds extend down to the beach. Passing d./wn Xahant street 
we suddenly find ourselves upon the beach at a point where the whole expanse 

from Red Rock to the rocks of Xahant presents 
itself advantageouslv to the view. There is no 




RESIDENCE OF EUGENE BARRY, XAHANT STREET. 

more beautiful bit of water scenery upon the whole New England coast than this. 
Manvhave likened this bav. King between Phillip's Point in Swampscott. and East 



LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 




KKSIDKN'CE OF F. W. BREED, OCEAN STREET. 

Point Oil Nahant, to the Bay of Naples, lacking perhaps only the peculiar purplisli 
tint so characteristic of that fair haven. The beaches which surround this bay 




RESIDENCE OF JOHN P. WOODBURY, NAHANT STREET. 



GLIMPSES OK TIIF, 'J-OWX. 



121 



have for centuries been the favorite breathing places of the dweUers hereabouts 
Before the white men came the Indian youth held their sports there, a.ul doubtless 
the Indian maidens and their lovers found an evenin- stroll upon its smooth 
sands as pleasant as their successors in our own time. The beach, by reason of 




RKSIDEXCK OP^ J. N. SMITH, OCKAN STHKET. 

its extent, is thought to have given the name to this region the root of 
the name Saugus signifying great, or extended. To the Indians the l)each 
was a constant source of food supply, and to the early settlers a nc\cr-failing 
barometer. William Wood, the early writer before (pioted, sa\s of it: 
'' Vpon the South side of the Sandy Beach the sea beateth, which is a true prog- 
nostication to presage stormes and foule weather, and the breaking up of the 
Frost. For when a storme hath been or is likely to be, it will roare like Thun- 
der, being heard sixe miles ; and after stormes casts uj) great stores of great 
Chimmes which the Indians, taking out of their shels, cany home in baskets." 
The beach is now one of the most jDopular resorts in the \icinity, the beauty of 
the placeand the conveniences supplied by mine host of the Hotel Xahant attrac- 
ting visitors from all directions. 

Out on the point of Red Rock, which juts abruptly into the waters, 
having Deer Cove under its lea and Humphrey's Beach stretching out toward 
Swampscott on the other side, we get a still better view of the bay and its 
setting. This has always been a favorite resting spot with the j^eople of 
Lynn. In the foreground Egg Rock stands up out of the water seemingly twice 
its actual height. On either hand is the sandy beach, smooth and hard as a 
floor, with waves constantly dancing forward and backward — the same of which 



122 



LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 



Mrs. Sigouniey sang, mayhap sitting on this veiy spot, and with her words we 
close this chapter of Glimpses of Lynn. 



"The sand beach and the sea — 

Who can divine 
Their mystic intercourse, that day and night 
Surceaseth not? On comes the thundering surge, 
Lifting its mountain head, with menace stern 
To 'whelm the unresisting; but impelled 
In all the plenitude of kingly power 
To change its purpose of authority, 
Breaking its wand of might, doth hurry hack; 
And then, repenting, with new wrath return. 
Yet still that single silvery line abides 
Lonely, and fearless, and immutable. 
God gives it strength. 

So may He deign to grant 
The sand-line of our virtues power to cope 
With all temptation. When some secret snare 
Doth weave its meshes round our trembling souls. 
That in their frailty turn to Him alone. 
So may He give us strength. 




HOTEL NAHANT AND LYNN BEACH. 



f^^ 



l^^^- 




^^ganiMaiwn§ . 



THE person who even casually studies the social developement of Lynn, 
though he goes no tarther or deeper than the pages of the Directory, will lie 
'^ struck by the large number of organizations of different kinds which 
' have not only the official paraphernalia peculiar to such, but permanent 
places for holding stated meetings. Not reckoning the municipal and business 
organizations, there are nearly one hundred and fifty societies, whose range of 
activities cover nearly every phase of the social life of the city. 

The charitable institutions should perhaps first claim our attention. The 
Home for Aged Women is delightfully situated at the upper end of the common. 

on Market Square. The 
building, which has a deci- 
dedly classic appearance, was 
erected in 1832 for the Nahant 
Bank, which went the way 
of luisiiccessful enterprises, 
four years later. It was 
occupied b\- the " Home " in 
1S76. This worthy charity 
is under the care of a board 
of trustees, of whom Mr. 
George K. Pevear is Presi- 
dent and Hon. \Vm. F. 
Johnson is Secretary. Mrs. 
Hattie K. Walsh is Matron. 




HATHOKNK HOUSE. 



124 



LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 



Of all our public institutions perhaps the Lynn Hospital appeals most di- 
rectly to the masses of our people. The hospital buildings are pleasantly situa- 
ted on Boston street, near Washington, upon what was formerly known as the 
Hawthorne estate. Strawberry brook flows by the door, and in front rise abrupt, 
woody hills, with here and there a porphyry ledge breaking through the soil. 
The surroundings are quiet and beautiful. In early times this quarter was 
known as Mansfield's end. The old mansion standing at the time the Hospital 
corporation purchased the property was long ago known as the Deacon Farring- 
ton house, and afterward it was occupied by Capt. John White of the United 
States Navy, and is said to have been the house in which Lafayette was 
entertained when lie visited Lynn. Subsequently it was occupied by 
Rev. Mr. Barlow, second minister of the Unitarian society, and later 
still by William ILiwthorne, from whom it took its name. The old house 
now forms a part of the hospital buildings, and with the exception of new sur- 
roundings and a new coat of paint retains its original aspect. The complete 



ii^- 





usefulness of the Hospital is beyond expression. Aside from the case of 
accident which are almost daily treated, there is the unspeakable comfort 
of knowing that in the time of greatest need there is a place where the best 
of care and skill is always at command, and the poorest patient in the Hospital 
receives as good care and attention as the wealthiest citizen can obtain. The 
institution is maintained entirely from gifts, and has thus far received a generous 
support. 

The Associated Charities was formed in iSS6 for the purpose of 
systematizing and regulating the general charitable work of the city. 
Through the investigations of the Society's agents it has been possible to distin- 
guish between the deserving poor and those who have made it their calling to 
impose upon the charitably inclined in the community. The Society's head- 
quarters are at Lee Hall, where the Registrar, Miss Hannah M. Todd is in con- 
stant attendance. Cases of destitution reported here, receive prompt attention. 



OKC.WI/.AriOXS. 



125 



The Children's Home, on Tower Hill, is a two story wooden l)uildin- erec- 
ted in iSSi, situated in one of the most sightly and beautiful spots in\ynn. 
The purpose of the home is to provide suitable nurture and education for cx- 




CHTLDREX S HOME AND CITY A I. MSI IOCS i: . 

posed young children, to save them from the stigma of work-house life, and 
oftentimes from the worse influences of degraded homes. Our view takes in 
both the Home and the Lynn Almshouse which is situated near ot it. 

The Massachusetts Society for the Promotion of Temperance and Inebriates' 
Home is pleasantly located at No. 19 New Ocean street, near the beach, and 
having an outlook over the bay. The name of the institution expresses its 
design, which is the care and treatment, with a view to cure, of those addicted 




MASSACHUSETTS TEMPERANCE HOME. 

to the drinking habit. Mr. Frank M. Flynn, who has for many years been 
prominent in reform temperance movements in Lynn, is superintendent. 



126 



LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 



The Grand Army of the Republic occupies a position of hirge influence 
and usefulness, having an active membership of one thousand and twenty-nine, 
and during the nineteen years of its existence fourteen hundred and ninety-two 
ex-soldiers and sailors have been connected with the organization. When it 
was first started it met with little favor. There were but ten charter members, 
and the first headquarters were in Washington Hall, now remodelled into the 
Boscobel Hotel. The Post was poor, and its progress during the first few years 
was slow. So poorly equipped was it that in the initiation of its first recruit, 




GEN. I,A\DEK POST 5 (;. A. K. IIEADC^UARTKKS. 

Capt. J. G. B. Adams, they had to go to a neighboring house to borrow a bible 
upon which to administer the obligation ; but perseverance and pluck won the 
dav ; the prejudices were overcome and the foundation laid for the wealthiest 
Post in the countrv. Post Five now owns the Coliseum on Summer street, 
erected in I SS2, at a cost for buildings and land of $30,000, and the beautiful 
new building on Andrew street, erected in 1SS6, at a cost of $37,000. 
]?()tli these valuable estates are held bv the Gen. Lander Building Asso- 
ciation, free from all incumbrance. In addition to the cost of the build- 
ings the post has, since its organization, disbursed over $75,000 in charity. 



ORCANIZAllON.'- 



127 

Tlic Coliseum is tJie lar- 
,uvsi pi,!, lie hall ill Lynn, 
and is nnich in (Ifniaiul 
loi- political and social 
.uatlicrin<4s. 'j'lic new 
'"lildino- on An.licw 
street is iitted up ^villl 
every Convenience \vhicli 
can add to the comfort of 
llie comrades. Post 5 
takes its name from P>r\^^. 
( Jen. I'^rcderick West Lan- 
der, a resident of Lyini, 
\\lio distinguislied him- 
self in the Vir<i;-inia cam- 
paign of 1861, and \vhose 
death in 1862 closed a 
career that _<4a\e j^romise 
of oreat l)rillianc\-. 

'Jlie intiodnction of 
Freemasonry into Lynn 
dates back nearly to the 
beginning of the present 



Y, M. C, 

century. Alt. Carmcl 
Lodge was chartered in 
1805, and for many years 
continued an undisturbed 
existence. About 1S37 
the city was in common 
with many other pails of 
the country, stirred to its 
depths by the anti- 
m a s o n r y exc itement . 
On the ist of April, 
I 85 7, Mr. Jacob Allen 
of Braintree gave an 
exhibition of the al- 
leged mysteries of that 
institution at Liberty 
Hall, on the corner of 
Essex and Market 
streets, and on the 6th 
the inhabitants in town 
meeting solemnly voted 
that they regai'ded Free- 
masonry "as a great 



A. BUILDING, 




/ 





f^-fsmm 



ODD FELLOWS' HALL. 



128 



LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 



moral evil," and its existence "as being dangerous to all free governments." 
An anti-masonry party was formed which for several years run the politics 
of the town, and a newspaper — The Lynn Record — turned its guns upon 
the order. The result was that the masons kept very quiet, and several lodges 
surrendered their charters. Mt. Carmel Lodge discontinued its meetings for 
about twenty years, when the excitement having cooled, they were resumed. 
Lynn has now three lodges, one commandery and one chapter, with a large 
membership. 

The Independent Order of Odd Fellows was introduced into Lynn in 1844, 
near the close of the anti- 
masonry excitement, the^^^^^=== 
founders claiming that it was 
free from those things which ^ 
had been deemed objection- ^ 
able in the more ancient so- JT 
ciety. The Bay State Lodge J 
was the pioneer, and has E 
been followed by Provi- 
dence, West Lynn, Richard 
W. Drown and Glenmere 
Lodges, and by Beulah and 
Myrtle Lodges Daughters of 
Rebecca ; also, Palestine and 
Lynn Encampments, and 
Grand Cantons Lucerne and 
Palestine, Patriarchs Mili- 
tant, a new military degree. 
Odd Fellows' Hall on the 
corner of Market and Sum- 
mer streets was erected in 
1 87 1 -3 by the Odd Fellows' 
Hall Association. It occu- 
pies the site of the old Ly- 
ceum building, and is one of 

,, . ^ -i ^^ ^^ ' RICHARD W. DROWN. 

the most ornate buildmgs m 

town. Richard W. Drown, for many years one of the prominent morocco 
manufacturers of Lynn, was very active in promoting the principles of Odd Fel- 
lowship. He was a Past Grand in Bay State Lodge, and for a long time Deoree 
Master of that body. He also held numerous offices in tlie Grand Lodge. 
Pie was chosen Grand Master of the Grand Lodge during what proved to be his 
last sickness, it being conceded by all members of that body that his services 
to the order merited such recognition, and the Grand Officers came to Lynn 
and to his bedside to install him. He died in 1S77. Richard W. Drown Lodge 
instituted in 1881, is called after his name. 

The Knights of Pythias have two large lodges, both organized in 1870, 
Everett Lodge and Calanthe Lodge. Their hall is in Tremont block, corner of 




ORCIANI/.ATIOXS. 



12? 



Tremont and Market streets. The Knights .,f Honor, Order of United Friends, 
United Order of Pilgrim Fathers, Order of United American Mechanics, Ameri- 
can Legion of Honor, and numerous other protective and benelit associations, 
hold regular meetings in difterent places. Many of the societies are uniformed,' 
and street parades are always in order, and the accompanying scene on Munroe 
street is reproduced almost any day in the sunnner and autumn months. 

The labor organizations of Lynn are numerous and powerful, and extend to 
nearly every branch of industry, and all except the Lasters' Union are enrolled 
with the Knights of Labor. The first assembly of this organization was formed 
in Lynn June 22, 1S7S, and was known as Assembly No. 715. There were 
only eight or ten present at the first meeting, and the organization was kept very 
secret for some months. Tliere are now thirty-four assemblies with a meml>cr- 
ship of about twelve thousand. The discipline of the organization is very strict 
and they have by this means been able practically to dictate prices in many de- 
partments of labor. The Lasters' Union has held aloof from the Knights. Like 
the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, this organization seeks not only to 
secure good wages for its members but to educate them in the details of their 
craft, so they may become good workmen. This organization originated in 

L 




^Lvnn m iiSj-y, ai 
there are now a])o 
fifty union; 



nd 

ut 

the 



Ki ^y 



cou n tr V, ^v i ih a 
membership of some 
ten thousand. The 
Lynn Union has 
)een very successful 
in the holding of 
fairs and other meth- 
ods of raising mon- 
and the}- are 



about to erect a hall 
for their use on An- 
drew street, n e a r 
Music Hall. 

The Shoe & 
Leather Association 
is an organization of 
the manufacturers to 
meet the demands of 
the labor um'ons. 
The result of tlicse 
difierent organiza- 
las been adopted, and a perma- 
nent committee from each organization now meets whenever any question arises 
requiring settlement between employers and then- workmen. Thus far the 
svstem has been found generally satisfactory. 
" The Young Men's Christian Association occupies the second floor ot its 



A TYPICAT. STRKKT SCENE. 

tions has been that the principle of arbitration 



130 



LYNX AND SURROUNDINGS. 



handsome building on tiie 
corner of Market and Liberty 
streets. The Association 
does a large and good work 
among young men ; Mr. 
George C. Herbert is Presi- 
dent, and Mr. John E. Gray 
is Gcncicd Secictan .V 
committee of the Association 
has the administciing of the 
'I ohn m tcmpciance fund 
'1 he uppci stoiKs ot tins 
])uihhns4 ue (jecujiied 1)} the 
ditkunt M isoiiic bothcs. 

Lee Hall stands on the 
site of the Old }3o\\ cm 
chuieh, and is the hc<u 
qu nteis ol the Paik Club, 
one ot the most pi omnicnt so- 
cial Ol gaiii/ations in the e it\ , 
the Club occupies pleascUit 
looms on the second flooi, 
and IS fiequented chiefl}' hy 
GUI oldei business men. 




-*i = 






i'l 




M^ 









/f: ^ 



iiiiiii'n^' 



^»r-^'-^"^-- 



ICii?;!*' 






HUST NATION \L ]{\NK 

The Oxfoid Club has a ^oungel antl 

I: J^ moieawtnc v,<jnotituenc\ . Theli looms ni the 

''--_ -.. ' First National Bank building, on the corner of 

£: Broad and Exchange streets, are fitted up with a view to 

— tlie comfort and enjoyment of the members. The annual 

Charity Ball of the Club is the great social event of the year, the proceeds 



ORGANIZATIONS. 



i:!] 



being divided among the 

worthy charities of the citv. 

5 In lier pubHc scliool sys- 

fe^i| tern, not only in respect to the 

^J appearance and e([uipment 

^g of thebuihlings, l)nt also the 

^B general grade of excellence 

""^ in methods and attainment 

Lynn is second to none of 

our New I-^ngland cities. 

Ksa These consist of one High 

School located on High 

fggga street, seven (irannnar and 

eixtv-four Primary schools. 
-mNd school. " -^ 

ihe High school biuldnig is 

old fashioned, and while good for the time wdien it was erected, is scarcelv np 

to the requirements of a mode 




1. 




COBBET SCHOOL, FRANKLIN ST. 

suitable structure before many years. The three pictures of scho 
the different styles of architecture adopted in their construction 
School on Franklin street is ^ - - _ 

one of the finest Grammar 
school buildings in Essex 
County. A feature of our 
public school svstem is the 
free evening drawing school 
held from October till April, 
four nights each week. The 
large number who have 
availed themselves of its ad- 
vantages have proved its pop= 
ularity and usefulness. In 
addition to the public schools 



house 
The 



s show 
Cobbet 




SHEPARD SCHOOL, V/ARREN ST. 



132 



LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 



there are numerous schools under private auspices of considerable excellence. 
St. Mary's Parochial School is the largest of these, and has several hundred 
children under its instruction. 

The Lynn Fire Department has a high reputation for efficiency and general 
excellence. The apparatus 
consists of five Steam Fire 
Engines of the most im- 
proved patterns, one Chemi- 
cal Engine, toui Hose Wag- 
ons, and two Hook and 
Ladder Trucks. The pun- 








BROAD STREET ENGINE 

cipal engine-house and headquar- 
ters of the department are on 
Broad street, near Market. This 
is a handsome building, affording 
accommodations for three engines, 
two hose carriages and one hook 
and ladder truck, offices for the 
Chief Engineer and assistants, and 
sleeping accommodations for those 
men, who are alwa3's on duty. In 
the house on Fayette street is located 
Steamer No. 5, and in the Federal 
street house Engine No. 3, Hose 
No. 3 and Hook and Ladder No. 
3, and one hose company is sta- 
tioned on Chestnut, near Pond 
street. The Chief Engineer of 
the fire department is Mr. Abram 
C. Moody, and much of its present 
state of excellence is due to his 
energy and faithful oversight 




CHIEF ENGINEER A. C. MOODY. 



ORGANIZATIONS. 



133 



and the strict discipline Whicia he enforces. Lynn h:is never yet been visited 
by any disastrous conflagration, whicli is attributed in a hirge measure to the 
•careful watch and prompt service of tlie department. 




FAYKTTE STREET ENGINE HOUSE. 

The system of protection against fire in vogue in nearly every cit\- and town 
of any considerable size throughout the country, had its birth in the ])raiu of a 
Lynn inventor. Mr. Joseph Jenks was a mechanic of considerable original genius, 
and came to this country from England to work as founder in the L'on Works, and 
■where he produced the first castings made in the New World. His inventions in 
saw-mills and scythes were among the first for which the "patronage" of the 
government, as patents were then termed, was sought; and in 1654 the town of 

Boston voted that the " Se- 
lectmen have liberty to 
agree with Joseph Jynks 
for Ingins to cany water 
in case of fire, if they see 
cause so to doe," and it is 
supposed that they saw 
•'cause," for some years 
after, the town voted to 
have "the water Engine 
lor the quenching of fire, 
repaired." The step from 
that modest little " Ingin" 
to the latest productions 
111 the same line is a long 
one, luit the principle of 

_ ^^^ _ ^ till owing a stream of wa- 

"■"" '"^, ni K M s. I 1 I I i N' -Ni HOUSE. ""^ tci to the top of a burning 

building by mean, ot a loice pun.p has not been much improved upon-only 
the methods of applving it have been changed. In Lynn were several hand fire 




134 



LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 



engine com^oanies, and many of oui* first citizens can remember the days when 
they " run with the machine," and no other cup of hot coflee will ever attain to 
the perfection of flavor of that served by the hidies of the town, after a success- 
ful midnight batde with an incipient conflagration. The first steam fire engine 
was brought to the city in 1S64, and received the name of " The City of Lynn." 
This machine did honorable sei'vice for many years until replaced by others of 
more modern build. 

The Lynn Public Library is one of the most useful of our public institutions. 
It was founded in 1S62, having for a basis the collection of the Lynn Free Pub- 
lic Library, a corporation organized in 1S55, whicli had in turn inherited the 
treasures of the First Social Library incorporated in 18 19. The collection now 
numbers upwards of thirty-two thousand volumes, which find scanty accommo- 
dations in the right wmg of the City Hall building. The Library is under the 
government of a board of trustees, of which Mr. Edward S. Davis is president. 
Mr. J. C. Houghton is librarian, a gentleman by taste and acquirements emi- 
nently fitted for the position. It is hoped that the city government will take 
early measures to provide enlarged accommodations for the Library which is 
constantly growing, and extending its influence for good among the people. 

The last of our public organizations of which our limits permit mention is 
the Lynn Free Public Forest, a voluntary association to preserve for public use 
some portion of the wooded section north of the city. Several difterent parcels 
of ground in this wild and beautiful region have already been secured. Each 
year the society holds a field da}', when with mysterious druidical rites, the syl- 
van gods are honored and the lands dedicated to the use of the people forever. 
These ceremonies are conducted with a good deal of spirit and are always large- 
ly attended. It is proposed that at some future time the lands thus secured shall 
form the nucleus of a public park, which may be made to include Dungeon 
Rock and the region round about. In this event the city would not only obtain 
a park of rare natural beauty, but the romantic legendary and historical associa- 
tions which cluster around would invest the place with a never-dying interest 
both to citizen and strangrer. 




THE OLD LYCEUM BUILDING. 





)Mn@ 



mANY of the family names of Lynn have become so interwoven with her 
history as to be a part of it. The names of Ingalls, Burrill, Newhall, Breed, 
^K: and many more were borne by the earhest settlers, and at no time since 
have some of their descendents not been prominently identified with the 
affairs of the town. In his charming book on " Lin," and also in his An- 
nals, Judge Newhall has done some of his most valuable work in connection 
with these family names ; and through his efforts the youth of the future, when 
it shall have come to be esteemed a sufficient honor that his ancestors had a part 
in founding our free institutions, may climb his family tree with ease and dispatch. 
The earliest settlers were generally men of quiet lives and deeply engaged 
in the care of their virgin acres, but in their descendants their names have be- 
come widely known. George Bancroft came to Lynn in 1630 and died in 1637, 
and George Bancroft the historian is his lineal descendant. The name was at 
that time spelled Barcroft. Edward Holyoke, who lived near Holyoke street, 
was one of the strongest characters in the town, and his grandson was President 
of Harvard College. Thomas Newhall came to Lynn in 1630, and his son 
Thomas, born the same year, was the tirst white child born in Lynn. He 
would seem to have become a sort of joint heir to the promise to Abraham, for 
although his seed are not as numerous as the stars of heaven or the sands of the 
sea-shore, more people in Lynn are called by his name than by any other. At one 
period there were eight people here by the name of James Newhall, and to dis- 
tino-uish them their neighbors had recourse to the nicknames, Squire Jim, 



136 



LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 



Phthisicy Jim, Silver Jim, Bully Jim, Increase Jim, President Jim, Nathan's 
Jim, and Doctor Jim. 

John Burrill, who was grandson of the first settler of the name, was a 
Representative in the General Court for twenty-two years, was Speaker of the 
House ten years, and Councillor in 1720; and in these responsible offices he 
acquired a high reputation for integrity and ability. His gravestone may still be 
seen in the Old Burying Ground, v^ith its long and quaint epitaph, and in his 
will he bequeathed forty pounds to the First Church ' ' toward ye furnishing of 
ye table of the Lord. Many others of his name achieved honorable distinction 
in public positions, and the family came to be facetiously called the Royal 
Family of Lynn. Chief Justice, and afterward Senator Burrill of Rhode Island, 
was descended from this Lynn family. 

William Gray, better known as Billy Gray, in his day the most famous and 
wealthy merchant in New England, was a native of Lynn, though in his later 
years a resident of Boston. It would be a pleasure to linger among these 
honored names, about which clusters so much of never-dying interest, but we 
must pass from them to some of the more familiar names of our own time. 

Perhaps no three men have done more to 
perpetuate the name and fame of our city than 
have her three historians. Alonzo Lewis was 
by profession a civil engineer of wide reputa- 
tion, and doubtless the familiarity with the 
real estate lines and titles, gained only by the pa- 
tient research which his calling made neces- 
sary, led him to undertake the compilation of 
the history of the city. The early records of 
the town were in a state of almost inexplicable 
confusion, and very many were lost ; in con- 
sequence, the labors of the historian were both 
perplexing and arduous. The first edition of 
his History of Lynn appeared in 1S29 and the 
second in 1844. A third edition was in con- 
templation when he died in 1S61 . This work of 
Mr. Lewis was carefully and gracefully per- 
formed, both volumes are richly suggestive and 
instructive. Mr. Lewis also published a vol- 

AI.ONZO I.KWIS. c r i -^ i . ..■ 

ume of poems of much merit, and wrote at tnnes 
upon various topics of current interest. He was also interested in everything 
that pertained to the welfare of the city. He laid out the road to Nahant, sug- 
gested to the government the idea of the Egg Rock Light, and named many of 
the streets of the city. 

Intimately connected with the name of Alonzo Lewis is that of Judge 
James R. Newhall. Although following the laborious profession of the law, 
in which he was successful, he has nevertheless found time for much literary 
work of a historical nature. He took up the history of Lynn where Lewis left 
oM', and in 1S65 published, vinder the joint names of himself and his predecessor 
m the work, a handsome volume in which lie continues the story of 




icr years Irom 




SOME LYNN PEOPLE. 

Lewis through the later years and adds hirgely to tlic record of the earl 

the results of his own investigations. 

In 1880 he published a volume en- 
titled " Lin, or the Jewels of the 

Third Plantation," in wliich in a 

quaint, gossipy, delightful style he 

treats of the prominent characters of 

the early settlement, together with 

numerous legends and traditions 

which cluster around the early days. 

In 1879 he was selected to prepare 

the memorial volume published in 

connection with the two hundred and 

fiftieth anniversary of the city, and 

in 1SS3 he published a volume of 

"Annals," in which the history of the 

city is brought down to that year. In 

early life Judge Newhall was an 

adept at the printer's trade, and not 

a little of his literary work has been 

done at the case, his thoughts taking judge james r. xkwhai.l. 

form in the type, ready for the press. His racy, garrulous style lends a fascina- 
tion to his books not often found in works of their class. 

Mr. David N. Johnson, in his Sketches of Lynn, published in 1880, has 

pictured with almost jihotographic faithfulness to detail, many features of the 

business and social life of the city 
in the first half of the present 
century, and in this respect his 
work is a valuable supplement 
to the labors of his co-workers in 
the field of local history. Mr. 
Johnson has for sevLMal years 
been on the editorial stafi'of the 
Lynn Transcript, and is a pleas- 
ing and forcible writer both in 
prose and verse. 

IVIr. Cyrus M. Tracy has 
also done some good work in 
connection with our local history, 
having contributed the chapters 
on Amesbury, Lynn, Lynnfield, 
Nahant, and Saugus in the Stand- 
ard History of Essex County. 
He is a skillful botanist, and in 
i)A\ 11. N. juiiNsox. 1S58 put forth a valuable work 

entitled - Studies of the Essex Flora." He has also been a frequent contribu- 
tor to the local newspapers, and many old citizens will remenil)cr tlie curious 




138 LYNX AND SURROUNDINGS. 

poetical controv^ersy betv/eeii him under tlie pseudonym of '' Iota," and '• Tlie 
Lynn Bard," as Alonzo Lewis often styled himself. 

While speaking of those of our citizens who have made their mark in liter- 
ature, we should not forget William Wood, whose book "New England's 
Prospect," was one of the first books penned this side of the Atlantic. It was pub- 
lished in England in 1635, and its one hundred pages contained a very favorable 
description of the early settlement. 

Rev. Samuel Whiting, the early pastor of the first church, published four 
volumes on religious subjects, which in their day attracted much attention. Rev. 
Thomas Cobbett, his colleague in the pastorate, wielded a prolific pen, and dealt 
with matters of political economy as well as religious themes. He was a man 
of gi-eat reputation, and his funeral was an event of the time, there being re- 
quired, according to the veracious historian, for the consolation of the mourners, 
"one barrel of wine, £6, 8s; two barrels of cider, 11 s; 83 lbs. sugar, £2, is; 
half a cord of wood, 4s ; four dozen pairs of gloves ' for men and women,' £5, 
4 s ; and ' some spice and ginger for the cider.' " It must have been a very sad 
occasion. 

Perhaps the most distinctively literary son of Lynn was Mr. James Berry 
Bensel. For many years he was a resident here, where he did much of his best 
work. His last published volume of poems entitled " In the King's Garden," 
contains the best productions of his pen. He enjoyed a wide acquaintance 
among literary men, and his early death cut short a career of great promise. 

William H. Prescott, the eminent historian, was for some years a summer 
resident of Lynn, his estate being on Ocean street. Here he composed a con- 
siderable portion of " Phillip the Second," and did other writing. 

Mr. Josiah F. Kimball was for many years editor of the Lynn News, and 
is still a frequent contributor to the weekly press of the city. 

Of those who are making their mark upon the literature of the day may be men- 
tioned Eugene Barry, whose short poems are familiar to the readers of the Boston 
Transcript ; Thomas Ronayne, who writes for the Boston Pilot ; Bessie Bland, who 
has produced much graceful verse which has appeared in the local press ; S. W. 
Foss, of the Saturday Union, who has made sometliing of a reputation by a 
peculiar literary device consisting of poetical lines of enormous length and an 
easy metrical jingle ; Henrietta E. Dow, a most versatile writer of magazine 
articles and stories ; Joseph W. Nye, who is one of the vetei'an poets of Lynn, 
and has written much for the local press ; Frank R. Whitten, who is achieving 
a reputation in the field of literary criticism ; and Howard M. Newhall, who, 
though yet a young man, has won a high position as a writer on economic topics, 
and his special boot and shoe articles have attracted wide attention both at home 
and abroad. The list might be much extended, but we must pass on with the 
simple wish that each faithful worker may receive the poet's reward : 

" Thanks untraced to lips unknown 
Shall greet me like the odors blown 
Prom unseen meadows newly mown, 
Or lilies floating in some pond, 
Wood-fringed, the wayside gaze beyond; 
The traveller owns the grateful sense 
Of sweetness near, he knows not whence. 
And, pausing, takes with forehead bare 
The benediction of the air." 



ANN I'KOI' 



i:j9 



Hon. John B. Alley was lK)rn in l.ynu January 7, 1S17. Ills lather was :i 
wealthy and prominent member of the vSociety of Friends. At tiie early a-e of 
twelve he left school, and at fourteen, according to tlic liealthv custoni of the 
time was apprenticed to learn the shoemaker's trade, lie worked at the bench 
steadily during the five succeeding years, and at the end of his term was given 
his time, He immediately engaged in business, at first at Cincinnati where he 
purchased a boat, loaded it with goods and floated down to New Orleans on a 
trading expedition. The venture was succcssfid, and returning to T^ynn he en- 
gaged in the manufacture of shoes. In 1S47 he founded the wholesale leather 
house of John B, Alley & Co., which has since stood in the front rank of the leather 
trade. Mr. Alley has also engaged in extensive enterprises outside of his leadicr 
business and is still prominently connected with several western railroads, and 
the abundant success which has crowned his eflbrts is the best commentary on 
the ability and sound judgement which directed them. 

But while giving careful thought and attention to the details of his large 
business, Mr. Alley has found time to indulge a literary taste, has written exten- 
sively for several newspapers, and engaged actively in the political controversies 
which led up to the war of the rebellion. He was an ardent anti-slavery man, 
was prominent in the free soil party and was puljlished throughout tlie South as 
an objectionable abolitionist whom ^ 

all good southerners should avoid. 

In iS^i he was a member of the 

Governor's Council ; in 1S52 he 

was a member of the .State vSenate ; 

in 18^3 he served in the Constitu- 
tional Convention ; and for two 

years was Chairman of the Repub- 
lican State Committee. In 185S 

he was elected to Congress, being 

the first Lynn man who has been 

accorded that distinguished honor, 

and served four terms, all through 

the trying and exciting years of the 

war. He took an active part in the 

proceedings of that body and in 

several speeches advocated those 

financial measures which became 

the policy of the government in 

dealing with the currency. He en- 
joyed intimate personal friendshii? 

with the Senators from Massachusetts, Charles Sunnier ai: 

as well as with Chief Justice Chase, and others prominen 

whose names are a part of the history of those tunes. 

Mr. John B. Tolman is one of our oldest and honored citizens. He was 

born in Barre, Mass., eighty years ago, and came to Lynn in 1830 to engage 

in the printing business, which he conducted successfully for many years, and m 

addition to the ordinary business of a job office was successively publislicr of the 




J^>i 



X H. Ai,ij;v 



Henry Wilson, as 
1 the government, 



140 



LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 



Lynn Record, Sabbath School Contributor, 
Parsons Cooke, Essex County Washingtonian 
new name, and numerous other pubHcations. 




stance to the pubHc good deny themselves, the 
he planned in process of accomplishment. 

Hon. William F. Johnson has 
for many years been a prominent fig- 
ure in Lynn affairs. He comes of the 
old Qijaker stock and was born and 
reared on the Johnson estate at 
Nahant, in the old mansion now stand- 
ing opposite the Post Office, in whicli 
house his father, Caleb Johnson, was 
born and lived until he died at the ad- 
vanced age of 90 years. The subject 
of our sketch was sixth of a good old- 
fashioned family of ten children. His 
early life, with the exception of one 
year spent in European travel, was 
devoted to farming and grocery bus- 
iness. At various times since 1853 
he has served the city in the several ca- 
pacities of assessor, alderman and may- 
or. His term in the latter office was in 
1858, a time of great financial depres- 



The Puritan, then edited by Rev. 
, which was the Record under a 
At length, failing health necessita- 
ted a change and he sold out his 
printing establishment and engag- 
ed in real estate transactions, and 
has since held many important 
positions in connection with pri- 
vate and corporate interests. The 
success of Mr. Tolman may be 
attributed to three very common- 
place principles — abstention from 
foolish and expensive habits, unre- 
mitting industry, and stricthonesty 
in all transactions. He has also 
found opportunity for extensive 
travel both in this and foreign 
countries, and has taken a notable 
part in the work of temperance re- 
form. His gifts to this cause and 
other charities have been munifi- 
cent, and by the bestowal of the 
Tolman Fund to the Y. M. C. A., 
he has secured that which many 
who devote a portion of their sub- 
pleasure of seeing the work which 




HON. WM. F. JOHNSON. 



SOME LVXN PEOPLK. 



141 



■sion, and his administration was marked for its economy in the management. .fcilv 
affairs, and its strict enforcement of tlie laws re;^nilatin,o- anuisemeiits. In 1S62 
and 1863 he represented the Essex first cHstrict in the State Senate and in 1S64 
was commissioned as vState Paymaster l>y (Governor Anchew. to reside in Wasli- 
ington, to pay the State bounty to soldiers that were credited t(^ >hissachusetts. 
Mr. Johnson has been identified with most of the lemix-rance movements and 
•charitable works of the city, and was an incorporator of the Home for A<a-d 
Women and its Secretary since its oroanj/ation, and an incorporator of the Lvnn 
Hospital and for two years its President. He was tor many years connected 
with St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, and is now an active mendx'r of the 
Parish of the Incarnation. He is now and has l)een for manv vears eny-ac-cd 
in the insurance business, and in June last received his twentv-tirst election as 
Secretary of the Lynn Mutual Fire Insurance Companv. 

Hon. James N. Bufium hasj 
for nearly three score years been 
in active business in Lynn . The 
name is one of the oldest in the 
country, the first representatives 
having come to Salem from Eng- 
land in 1638, and the subject 
of this sketch is the last remain- 
ing representative of the seventh 
generation. The family early 
adopted the Qiiaker belief, and 
one Joshua Bufium suffered for 
his faith, being banished by Gov. 
Endicott on pain of death. He 
went to England and returned 
in company with Samuel Shat- 
tuck, who bore the '-King's 
Missive." Mr. Bufium was born 
in North Berwick, Maine, where 
his grandfather had gone from 
Salem. At the age of seventeen 
he left home. He worked six 
years in Salem, three of which 
he spent with the Messrs. Hook 

in building church organs ; attended one term at the riiends'.sji 
dence, and in 183 1 came to Lynn. During the first twenty years he carried on 
the business of contracting builder ; later he became interested in real estate 
and also engaged in a general lumber business ; and still later began the manu- 
facture of packing boxes and shoe cases, in which he is still engaged. Few have 
done more for the development of Lynn than Mr. Bufliun. He has erected more 
than four hundred buildings in the city, and in the registry of deeds at Salem are 
recorded over seven hundred of his transactions in real estate in Lynn. He laid out 
Ocean street, and opened up to settlement a large section of the Hig 
his own elegant residence now is. He brought the first Steam E 




hlands wdiere 
neinto Lvnn and 



142 



LVXN AND SURROUNDINGS. 



set up the first wood-^Dlaning machine in Massachusetts. He was the original 
promoter of tlie Lynn Gas Light Company ; was one of the founders of the Central 
National Bank, and has been connected with numerous other enterprises. In 1868 
he was chosen Presidential Elector ; in 1869 he was elected Mayor, and in 1873 was 
re-elected to the same office ; and in 1S73 he was elected to the General Court. 
In all of these positions he served with credit both to himself and to the city. 

He became an early convert to the anti-slavery doctrine, being one of the 
first and strongest adherents to the (jarrlsonian idea. He gave of his time, talents 
and money freely to the cause. His house was always open both for the enter- 
tainment of the leaders, and as a station of the " underground railroad." He 
visited England in 1845 in company with Frederick Douglas for the purpose of 
awakening a public sentiment in opposition to slavery there, and he spoke to 
large audiences in numerous places in England and Scotland. In recognition 
of his eftoi-ts in behalf of the slave he has not only i^eceived the attentions of the 
mob who stoned his house, but also distinguished honors from those high in 
station both at home and abroad; and he has many interesting mementoes of 
those stirring and stormy times. Although in his eightieth year, Mr. Buffum 
is still hale and active, attending daily to the details of his large private business. 

Mr. Benjamin F, Doak was for many years a leading shoe manufacturer and 
a public spirited citizen, and was connected with many of the principal financial 
institutions of the city. He was noted in life both for strict integrity and upright- 
ness in business matters, and for timely and generous benefactions. He was a liberal 
supporter of the First Universalist Church, aiul by his will he kit to lie ad- 
ministered by the city for the 
benefit of the poor the sum of 
ten thousand dollars, which is 
known as the Doak Fund. 
The large business which he 
built up is still carried on 
under the style of John S. 
Bartlett & Co. 

Among the many who 
have been prominently connec- 
ted with our leading industry, 
but who have retired from ac- 
tive business are Hon. Joseph 
Davis, the founder and for 
manv years the president of 
the Davis Shoe Company ; 
Mr. Stephen Oliver, Jr., who 
for a long number of years 
transacted a large business on 
the corner of South Common 
and Pleasant streets, his fac- 
tory having been remodelled 
into the residence of Dr. ]Mc- 
Arthur ; Mr. Warren Newhall, 




SOMF. I.VXX I'KOPT.i: 



143 





I 



whose factory was next to the First Church on South Common street; Mr. Lu- 
cian Nevvhall, formerly on South Common street and later on the corner of Ex- 
change and Sprin-- streets ; Ex-Mayor l<:(lward S. Davis, whose factory was near 
the Frog Pond, his business passing into tlie hands of Samuel S. Ireson, who 
was for very many years a prominent manufacturer; Mr. Edwin II. Johnson, 
who in his later years was located on Munroe street ; Mr. Thomas Staccy, who 
was the pioneer in tlie carpet slipper business in E}nn, and to whose business 
Mr. Luther S.Johnson succeeded ; ISIr. Benjamin Sprague, whose place of bus- 
iness was on South Common street ; Mr. C. F. Coffin, who was the successor 
to Micajah Pratt's business on Broad street; Mr. Harrison Newhall, for many 
years located on the Common, and who built the first of the brick shoe factories 
down town. These, and many others who are still living and active were at 
one time among the leading manutacturers in the citv. 

Among the most 
prominentof the shoe man- 
ufacturers of the present 
day maybe mentioned Mr. 
Francis W. Breed, who 
is the largest manufacturer 
in Lynn, and in ladies and 
misses' shoes the largest in 
New England. He has 
three large factories — two 
in Lynn, and another in 
Rochester, N.H., with a 
capacity of six or seven 
thousand pairs of shoes 
per day. Mr. Breed's 
rise in business has been 
rapid but steady. Possess- 
ing the qualities of thor- 
oughness, address and en- 
ergy in a marked degree, 
he has achieved success in 
a business where competi- 
tion is very close and the 
favors of fortune extreme- 
ly few. He manufoctures 
nearly all grades of shoes, 
but has made a specialty 
of popular low priced goods, and these are sent into every part of the 
country. Mr. Breed gives close attention to the detail of his large business, in- 
sisting upon thorough and faithful work. He is probably one of the best buyers 
in the market. Mr. Breed has travelled extensively and has kept himself young 
while carrying a weight of care and responsibility that would have broken down 
many. His residence on Ocean street has a beautiful outlook over the bay, and 
is one of the most comfortable and homelike spots on the shore. 




144 



LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 



Hon. Josiah C. Bennett came to Lynn to engage in the manutacture of 
shoes in 1870. His native place was Sandwich, where he was born in 1835. 
In 1853 he was apprenticed to learn the shoemaker's trade in Danvers, serving 
his full time. He remained in the shoe business until 1865, when he removed 
to Boston and became interested in the manufactui-e of shoe tips, and later 
engaged in the manufacture of hats. During his first two years in Lynn 
he was located at No. 50 Exchange street, doing business under the firm name 
of J. C. Bennett & Co., with Mr. George E. Barnard as partner. In 1S72 they 
removed to their present location and the style of the firm became J, C. Bennett 
& Barnard. The firm has been progressive, manufacturing only the highest 
quality of goods, which are put up in elegant style and find their way into every 
part of the country. They have the happy faculty of getting along with their 
help, being tlie only firm not joining in the lockout of 1877-8. Mr. Bennett, 
while giving attention to the details of his large business, has found time for 

extensive travel, and in 
1885 obeyed a call from 
his townsmen to sei-ve 
them in the upper branch 
of the General Court, 
where he made an hon- 
orable record. 

While Messrs. Ben- 
nett and Breed may be 
regarded as fairly repre- 
sentative of the successful 
shoe manufacturers of 
Lynn, there are very 
many others who have 
been conspicuously suc- 
cessful and whose names 
are familiar as house- 
hold words in connection 
with the business of the 
town ; and it is a notice- 
able fact that nearly every 
p ro m i n e n t m a n u fa c tu re r 
in the city to-day has ris- 
en from small beginnings 
to their present positions 
tsiATi (, . r.i.wi.rr. by their own efibrts. 

Hon. Amos F. Breed has for very many years been identified with our 
leading industrv, in which he has been a conspicuous figure. He also holds a 
high position in financial and railroad circles, being President of the First Na- 
tional Bank and of the Lynn & Boston Railroad. The first is the leading in- 
stitution of its class in Lynn, and the latter, largely through the efforts of Mr. 
Breed, has been brought to a high state of efficiency. Its line now extends- 
from Boston to Marblehead. 




SOME LYNN PKori.l-; 



Mr. John l\\\\)()(ll)ury has for a oood 
estate matters in Lynn. He came here in 
some years was connected with J. 
Porter Woodbnry in the kunber bns- 
iness at West Lynn. In 1S54 he 
opened the first real estate and insur- 
ance office in Lynn, and he continued 
in the business until 1S67, doing the 
largest business of any concern of the 
kind in the State with a single ex- 
ception. In the latter }ear he sold 
out and went abroad with his family, 
and on his return lie, with others, 
organized the Exchange Insurance 
Company, which was soon after 
removed to Boston. He served 
the company as President for a year 
and a half when he resigned and has ^"^ 
since been in no active liusiness. 
Among the impc^rtant local enter- 
prises with which he was connected 
may be named the Lynn City Im- 
provement Company, which carried 
through the Central Avenue improve- 
ment, and the Market Hall Corpora- 
tion, which built Music Hall, the buildint 



nany years been idcntilied with real 
1S45 from Atkinson. X. II., mid for 





JOHN 1'. WOoDIiURV. 

being used as a market for some 
years. He is the son of 
Rev. John Wo o d b u r y, 
whose father, John Wood- 
l)ury was for many years 
quite a noted builder in 
Lynn. His residence at the 
foot of Nahant Street, shoAvn 
on page 120 is very pleas- 
antly situated, commanding 
a view of the entire bay. 

The legal fraternity has 
a goodlv representation in 
Lynn, and members of that 
profession have at times 
filled many positions of hon- 
or. Tinlge James R. New- 
hall was Justice of the Lynn 
Police Court for thirteen 
years, and for seventeen years 
; previous to that he was 
connected with the Court 



14(; 



LYXN AND SURROUNDINGS. 



as Special Justice. Judge RoUin E. Harmon succeeded him in that ofRce and 
is the present incumbent. Mr. John W. Berry, at the jDresent time Citv Solic- 
itor, has made an honorable record in his conduct of the legal business of the city. 
Hon. John R. Baldwin has been called frequently to the jDublic service, 
having been appointed a member of the school committee in 1879 and served till 
1886, being chairman in 18S1-3-3. In 1881 he was elected to the Massachusetts 
State Senate and sei"\'ed three terms, and in 1884 ^^^ ^^^ elected Mayor of Lynn, 
and sei-ved for the year 1885. He is a native of Lynn, received his education 
in the Lynn public schools and Harvard College, and has practiced law here 
since 1S80. 

^^^^ ^ Henry F. Hurlburt, Esq., fills 

^^T j the office of District Attorney of 

"^"^^ -~ Essex County. He was born in 

Boston in 1S53, and received his 
education in the common schools 
and Cornell University ; was ad- 
mitted to the bar in 1877, and 
established himself in Lynn the 
same year. He was elected Dis- 
trict Attorney in 1882, and by his 
al)Ie and impartial administration 
of that responsible office has won 
the esteem of law abiding men of 
all parties. His method of con- 
ducting the law business of the 
county has resulted in practically 
taking the office out of politics, 
and in the the November election 
^^ of '86 the public showed its appre- 

ciation of his course by re-electing 
iiiiNRY K. HUKLBUKT, KS(<. him with a handsome majority. 

Though still a comparatively young man, Mr. Hurlburt has attained to consider- 
able eminence in his profession, and has come to be regarded as one of the lead- 
ing lawyers at the Essex bar. 

The legal profession now includes some twenty-five in its local member- 
shij). There was a time, and that not so very long ago, when they were not so 
numerous. It was in 1S08 that Benjamin Merrill hung out his modest shingle on 
North Common street. Scarcely however had he got his books in order when 
a deputation of citizens called upon him with the request tliat he would 
leave the place. They feared the presence of a lawyer in town woidd lead 
to strife and contention among the people. He took them at their word 
and removed to Salem, where as a Counsellor and Conveyancer he soon won a 
■wide reputation, and in after years he reckoned some of his early visitors in Lynn 
as among his best and most loyal clients ; and he often laughingly referred to 
his Lynn experience as one of the most fortunate occurences of his life, a 
sort of blessing in disguise, as it gave him a celebrity he otherwise might never 
nave obtained. 




SOMK l.WX I'KolM.b:. 



14} 



Hon. George D. Hart, Mayor of the city, is one of the few youn^r 
men who have been called to that ollice. Mr. Hart was l)orii in Maiden, 
but has passed most of his life in Lynn. At the age of 17 he enlisted in C^o. 15, 
4th Mass. Heavy Artillery, serving two years in the (Quartermaster's department. 
Since the war he has been connected with diiVerent industries in Lvnn. He 
served in the City Council from Ward 5 in 18S5, and was elected mayor on the 
workingmen's ticket in December of that year. Ahiyor Hart possesses good 
administrative ability and gives his constant attention to the atlairs of the city. 




HON. GEOUCJE 



liAur 

nd Ln 



IS sat in the N: 



Hon. Henrv B. Lovering is the second \.\nn man wh 
tional Congress: He is a native of Portsnnouth, X^ H., hut his parents moved 
to Lynn in 1846, when he was live years ot age 
the public schools, and at the age of fourtee 
ker's trade, and except the time spent 
State or Nation, he has been constantly engaged in some ot its departments. 
He entered the armv at the outbreak of the rebellion and served unti the battle 
of Opequon Creek, Sept. 19, 1S64, where he received four wounds and had seven 
bullet holes through his clothing. As a result of his w.nn.ds he sullered ampu- 



His etlucatioii was gai 

he began to work at the shoema- 

the armv, or the civil sen'ice of the City, 



14S 



LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 




tation of his left leg, which 
ended his military career, and 
returning home he went to 
work at his old trade, and for 
several years thereafter was 
prominently identified with the 
labor movements in the city, 
and sened on the first board 
of arbitration that ever con- 
vened in Lynn for the settle- 
ment of labor troubles. In 
1S73 and 1S74 he was elected 
to the State Legislature ; in 
1S79 he was elected a member 
of the board of assessors for 
three years, resigning in iSSo 
to enter upon the duties of 
mayor, in which oflice he 
HON. iiK.XKV H. j-()\-KRiNG. sci-vcd two ycars. During his 

incumbency of this office he was elected to represent the Sixth District in the 4Sth 
Congress, and was re-elected to the 49th. In both he has sen-ed on the Commit- 
tees on Labor and Invalid Pensions, positions for which he is particularly adapted. 

Mr. Charles O. .- >-~- — - 

Beede is a represen- 
tative man in a line of 
business which has 
during the past ten 
years attained much 
importance as collat- 
eral to our leading in- 
dustry. In his early 
life he learned every 
detail of the shoe- 
maker's art by hard 
work in the foctory, 
and from 1S65 to 1S72 
he was engaged suc- 
cessfully in the manu- 
facture of shoes, when 
ill health compelled 
him to give up bus- 
iness for a season. In 
1874 he began the 
manufacture and sale 
of shoe manufacturers' 
supplies, being one of 
the pioneers in this 




SOME LYNN rEOPLE 



li9 



special branch, and his foctoiy on Union street is one of the most important 
concerns of its kind in New Enuland. Mr. lieede is also larj^elv interested' in 
real estate. He served in the Board of Aldermen in 1881 and i,S8->, and headed 
the citizens' ticket for mayor in 1884-5. 

Col. Gardiner Tnfts has been more widely and oenerally known perhaps, 
from the natnre of his public .service duriuL,^ and since the late war, than any 
other son of Lynn. He was born in this city July 3, 1828, and is a lineal de- 
scendant of Edmund In_L,-alls, tlie ilrst settler of Lynn ; received his education in 
our schools, and learned the trade of shoemakini;- ; subsequently that of shoe tool 
maker and wood turner, anil he was occupied in these industries until he entered 
the public service nearly twenty-six years a^o, in which he has since continue<l. 
In i860 and '61 he represented Lynn in the Legislature, and in the latter year en- 
tered the postal service in Washington, where he remained until in 1S62 he was 
ajDjDointed by Governor Andrew, Massachusetts State Agent at Washington, in 
which position he served until 1S70, and continued as State Agent in the business 
of soldiers' claims until 1876. The duties of the position of State Agent during 
the war were ardu- \^: ' ~- = ^n 



ous and important, 
having oversight of 
sick, wounded and 
dead Massachusetts ; 
soldiers of the Army 
of the Potomac, and 
more especially the = 
inmates of the hospi- 
tals of Washington ; 
and the agent to I 
an extent conduc- I 
ted the business of I 
the state with the f 
general government, f 
During the war the | 
agency had more or | 
less to do with more f 
than thirty thousand 
sick, wounded or 
dead Massachusetts 
soldiers, received 
and answered fifty I 
thousand letters, be- f 
s i d e s tel egra m s ; a n d " "^ 

in fulfilling these du- ^o^- <'A' = '"^""' '^ ' '^• 

ties Col. Tufts had at times a paid corps of assistants sometimes numbcrmg 
ei-hteen persons. The agent also established a bureau for the collect.on of 
sokliers pay, bounties and pensions without charge to them. More than a mil- 
lion dollars were thus collected, and besides he collected from the general gov- 
ernment war claims on behalf of the state aggregating more than $1,200,000. 




150 



LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 



Col. Tufts also served on a board appointed by Secretary Stanton for the inspecv 
tion of military hospitals and prisons in the Department of Washington, and 
subsequently Gov. Andrew appointed him Assistant Provost Marshal with the 
rank of Lieut. Col., with a staff of military officers for the purpose of recruiting 
men in the rebellious states to the credit of the loyal states. He had under his 
charge the District of Northeast Virginia. In 1S69 Gov. Claflin appointed him 
Visiting Agent of the Board of State Charities, and for Juvenile Offenders, in 
which relation he continued for ten years. After the consolidation of the Board 
of State Charities and the Board of Health, Col. Tufts was appointed Steward 
and Treasurer of the Reformatory Prison for Women, and in December of the 
same year was elected Superintendent of the State Primary School at Monson, 
which position he held five years, when he resigned to accept the superinten- 
dency of the new JMassachusetts Reformatory at Concord, which position he now 
holds. He has been a state delegate to the Prison Congress and Conference of 
Charities held in Cincinnati, New York, Cleveland, Madison and Detroit, and a 
paper upon the Massachusetts Visiting Agency and Juvenile Offender System, 
read by him at Cleveland, was brought to the attention of the Howard Association 
in London, was there favorably received and led to the adoption of some Massa- 
chusetts features in England and her provinces. In the political and municipal 
affairs of Lynn Col. Tufts has borne his part, having been Inspector, Clerk, and 
Warden of Ward 6, and at different times member of the Common Council and 

Board of Aldermen ; and was for 
several years Chairman of the Re- 
publican City Committee. It is 
not often that a man is permitted to 
serve the public in such important 
relations for so long a time, but in 
all these positions Col. Tufts has 
acquitted himself with credit both 
to himself and to his native town. 

General B. F. Peach is a na- 
tive of Marblehead, where he passed 
his early life. From 1856 till 187S, 
excepting the time he served in the 
army, he was connected with the 
shoe manufacturing firm of W. T. 
Haskell in the successive capacities 
of journeyman, foreman, and part- 
ner. He manifested in early youth 
an ardent fondness for military af- 
fairs, and at the breaking out of the 
war of the rebellion was First Sergeant of the Marblehead Light Infantry, 
and served with that company in the famous Eighth Regiment during the three 
months campaign. He was promoted First Lieut, of the same company March 
1862, and was appointed Adjutant of the Eighth Regiment in August of the 
same year. He was with the regiment during its nine months sei-vice in the 
Department of North Carolina and in the Army of the Potomac. He was com- 




c;kx. b. 1- 



SOME LYNN I'Kol'I.K. 



l.-.l 



missioned Colonel of the 



2 reg-mient in July. iSfi^, hchv^ ihci l,ul twenl\ 
five years of age, and was discharged at tlie expiration of 
November, 1S64. He continued in connnand of th 



lor and 
fficers and 



tern-i of service in 
regiment as a portion of 
the volunteer mditia of the state until February, 1882, a period of more than 
seventeen years, when he was promoted Brigadier General of tlie Second Brig- 
ade, and is at this time next commanding officer in rank to the Gove 
Commander in Chief, enjoying the confidence and respect of tl 
nien of his command as well as the people of the state at large. 

In 1866 Gen. Peacli removed to Lynn from Marblehead, and in 1879 he 
was elected City Treasurer and Collector of Taxes, in which position he re- 
mained until 1S85, when he resigned to take the position of U. S. Pension 
Agent at Boston, tendered him by President Cleveland. 

Hon. Frank D. Allen, 
though }et a comparatively 
young man, has attained to 
considerable p r o m i n e n c e 
both in his profession of the 
law and in political life. He i 
is a native of Worcester, l)orn 
in 1S50, graduated from Yale [ 
College in 1873 and was ad- 
mitted to the .Suffolk l)ar in 
1876. He has resided in 
Lynn since his marriage to ; 
Miss Lucy R., daughter of f 
Trevett Rhodes, in 1S77. , 
Li 1880 and 1 88 1 he repre- ' 
sented Ward 5 in the Gene- 
ral Court, and in 1S85 he ' 
was elected to represent the \ 
fifth councillor district in the ' 

Governor's Council, where 
he serves upon the Commit- ! :' 
tees on Railroads and Hoosac 
Tunnel, Charitable Listitu- HON. frank d. allen. 

tions, Prisons and Warrants. He has also, for two years, served on the Repub- 
lican State Central Committee. While giving some attention to p:)litics he has 
attained success in his profession, and as counsel for the Lancaster Bank he un- 
ravelled the tangled affairs of that institution, recovered the stolen securities and 
secured the indictment of the principle conspirators. 

Capt. John G. B. Adams was born in Groveland, Mass., Oct. 6, 1841, and 
passed his boyhood and youth in that locality, and in the early summer of 1S61 
enlisted in Maj. Ben : Perley Poore's Rifle Battalion which later became the nu- 
cleus of the 19th Mass. Regiment. He served through the war, rising rapidly 
to the rank of Captain. He participated in every march, and was engaged in 
every battle of the Army of the Potomac in which his regiment took part. At 
Fredericksburg he saved the colors of his regiment from capture after eight color 




■I 



!|t 



'it '/y 



152 



LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 




APT. JOHN 



bearers had been killed. He 
was twice severely wounded in 
the second day's fight of Gettys- 
burg, and while in the advanced 
lines before Petersburg on the 
22(1 of June, 1S64, he was cap- 
tured with his regiment, and 
for nine months suffered the 
miseries of a southern prison 
pen. After the war he was for 
some years foreman in the fac- 
tory of B. F. Doak & Co., but 
on account of failing health he 
resigned that position to enter 
the Inspector's office in the Bos- 
ton Custom House. He re- 
mained there some fifteen 
months, when he was appointed 
Postmaster at Lynn, which of- 
fice he held eight years. On the 
establishment of the Reforma- 
tory Prison at Concord he was 
appointed Deputy Warden, and at the last session of the General Court he was 
appointed to the office of Sergeant at Arms, which important position he now- 
most acceptably fills, Capt. Adams was the first recruit mustered into Post 5, 
G. A. R. He was three times chosen commander, and was for one year De- 
partment Commander of Massachusetts. He has been for eight years president 
of the association of Survivors of Rebel Pr isons, and is chairman of the Boa rd 
of Trustees of the Soldiers' Home. He ^^^^"^^""^^"""^"^^^^^ 
has also been connected with numerous 
local enterprises, having been one of the 
incorporators of the Lynn Hospital, 
Lynn Electric Co., and also of the Thom- 
son-Houston Electric Light Co. 

Mr. William A. Clark, Jr., was 
born in Newark, N. J., June 9, 1S53. 
He served an apprenticeship in the jew- 
elry business, and came to Lynn in 1873. 
Three years later he engaged in the jew- 
elry business which he continued success- 
fully until 18S6. In 1880 hewas elected a 
member of the School Boai'd, and took a 
prominent part in re-establishing the eve- 
ning schools. In 1885 he was elected a 
member of the General Couil and sensed 
on the Railroad Committe of which lie 
was clerk, aud was re-elected to the 





153 

in ciricicnt niem- 
cn<^;i;j^e<l in sonic 




SOME LYNX PEori.K. 

legislature of 1SS7. Mr. Clark was a faithful worker and 
ber. He has lately disposed of his business in Lynn and 
public enterprises of considerable importance. 

David Walker was born in 
the village of Troynholm, Scotland 
Aug. 3, 1841, and came to thi 
country when ten years of age. 
the winter of 1856 he came to Lyni 
to engage in the leading industn 
of the place. During the war In 
served as private in the 53d Rcl^m 
ment Massachusetts Volunteers an( 
the 4th Massachusetts Heavy Arti 
lery. He was a charter member df 
Post ^,G. A. R., and has been prom- 
inent and active in the general wor 
of the order. Mr. Walker has als( 
been an efficient member of the ordui 
of Odd Fellows, being a Past Gram 
of West Lynn Lodge. In 1885 
was elected to the General Court 
from Ward 6, serving on the Com- 
mittee on Labor, and his work in 
that body has l^een endorsed by a 
re-election to the legislature of 1S87. In every position to which he has 
been called Mr. Walker has brought the qualities of steady faithfulness and 

uprightness. 

Hon. Frank W. Jones is a native 

of Stoughton, Mass., born in 1855, 
and was educated in the public 
schools of the town. He came to 
Lynn in 1872, and has followed the 
trade of shoemaking. He was elec- 
ted as Representative to the General 
Court in 1S84, and in 1885 was 
chosen to the Senate, being next to 
the youngest member of that body. 
He rendered ellicient service, being 
especially prominent in advocating 
the abolition of the Contract Convict 
Labor System. Mr. Jones has been 
an active member of the labor organi- 
zations of the city, and his efforts in 
legislative matters have been to better 
the condition of his fellow workmen 
so far as this can be done by legislative 
enactment. He was also re-elected 
to the Senate of 1887. 



DA\'1D WALKEK. 




\XK W. JONKS. 



154 



LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 



Xx 



Horace A. Roberts was born in 
Sandwich, N. H., Aug. 15, 1853, 
but has been a resident of Lynn 
most of his life. He was educated 
in the public schools, and after leav- 
ing school, woi-ked for several years 
in the shoe business and the ice 
business with his father, and in iSSr 
became a member of the firm of B. 

%|ii |l'i'l ^ \^ ^^^^^ ^J . F. Roberts & Son. He has given 

y\ > ' - rfj^^^^ftyv ^ much of his time to temperance 

work, attained the high degree of 
Gi\ind Worthy Patriarch in the Sons 
of Temperance. He was but 26 
years of age at the time and was the 
youngest man ever chosen to that 
office. He has also been prominent 
in the Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows. He was chosen to repre- 
sent the Tenth Essex District in the 
General Court in 18S5, serving with 
HORACE A. ROBERTS. mucli Credit on the Committee on 

Public Charitable Institutions. He was re-elected in 1886. 

We are now at the end of our sight seeing in Lynn, having traced 
the progress of the city from the early settlement in the Saugus forest to the 
modern, thriving busy city, walked up and down her streets, viewed her nat- 
ural and artificial beauties and attractions, examined into the public and 
charitable institutions, visited her churches, and been introduced to some of 
her leading citizens representing nearly every walk of life. In our excursion, 
as was inevitable from the nature of it, very many things which it would have 
been both a pleasure and a profit to have seen have been passed by, but it is 
hoped that the casual acquaintance thus gained may prove pleasant and lead to 
a closer knowledge and broader appreciation of our goodly city. Thanks are 
due the reader for his kind and genial companionship thus far, and before the 
final parting we would invite him to a flying trip to the Surroundings of Lynn . 




-^ 




ynn 



m^voundingB, 



/CONSCIOUS of her age and dignity, Lynn sits proudly in her beautiful 
^^ home by the sparkling bay, a mature and stately matron, with her five 
grown up daughters happily settled around her. Reading, settled by Lynn 
people in 1639, is the eldest of the family. Her original territory was four 
miles square, beautifully situated and possessing many natural advantages, but 
the inhabitants early lost the home feeling, and set up an establishment of their 
own. 

Lynnfield, for many years called " Lynn End," is the second child. The 
inhabitants of Lynn with their original S6S0 acres, feeling somewhat crowded, 
were granted '' six miles into the country," and an inland plantation was 
forthwith begun. This occurred soon after the settlement of the town. The 
Second Parish was set off in 1712, and the town was incorporated one hundred 
and two years after. A summer drive to Lynnfield takes one out through 
pleasant suburban Wyoma, along by numerous pleasant ponds and deep 
ravines on this side and on that, and shadowy woods, sweet with the smell 
of pine and juniper. Lynnfield Village is a pleasant place, with a good hotel, 
a few small manufactures, stores and other paraphernalia of a well-to-do country 
place. The farms wdiich lie about the village are fertile and w^ell tilled. A 
branch of the Boston and Maine Railroad gives quick communication with the 
busy woidd, and taken all in all this second of Lynn's daughters is well and 
comfortably settled in life. 

Saugus, called by the maiden name of the parent town, was set ofl' as the 
Third Parish, and attained to the dignity of a meetinghouse of her own in 1736, 
but remained under the maternal wing until 1S15, when she was incorporated 



156 



LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 




FRANKLIN SQUARE, EAST SAUGUS. 

as a town. The Saugus river — the Indian Abousett — and the marsh — the Rum- 
ney marsh of the early settlers — divide the tow^n into unequal parts, in each of 
which are many pleasant residences and fertile and well cultivated farms, and 
there are also manufactures of considerable importance. There are three pleas- 
ant villages in the town — East Saugus, Saugus Center, and Cliftondale — each 
with its peculiar attractions, and numerous pleasant spots which are sought out 
by picnic parties ; and the Franklin Park is a favorite place for the trials of 




LOOKING DOWN LINCOLN AVENUE, EAST SAUGUS. 



LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 

equine speed and mettle. There are many points of Instoiical interest •., 
which may be named tlie old Iron Works, the lirst in the new workl • U, 
rates' Glen, the site of the Old Anchor Tavern, tor many years tlie chief'lio^ 
of the whole region ronnd al)out ; and on Lincoln avennc was the old P,; 
Tavern, also a f^ivoritc inn. The site is now occu]:)ied l)y the residence n 
F. Newhall, Esq., but the old buildint;- is still standing a litUe farther < 
Ballard street. 

The region round about Lynn abounds in beaut ifid drives. Good coi 
roads radiate from the city in all directions and in a very short time after le: 



\ 



i.'i: 

nong 
e Pi- 
^lelrv 
.Hard 
ifW. 
lown 

uitry 
ivine 





HUNTERS CABIN, NEAR FLAX POND. 

Central square one may find himself where — 

" Kind nature shuffling in her loose undress, 
Lays bare her shady bosom," 
and if the tourist has been shut up for a season within city walls, he may echo 
the sentiment of the remaining lines of the stanza — 

" I can feel 
With all around me; I can hail the flowers 
That sprig earth's mantle; and yon quiet bin! 
That rides the stream is to me as a brother. 
The vulgar know not all the pockets 
Where nature stows away her loveliness." 
Sw^ampscott, the fourth of Lynn's fair daughters, sits dreamily by the sea, 
spreading her snowy skirts out on this side and on that even down to the salty 
rim of the ocean. The few picturesque old fish houses along the shore and the 
score of dories drawn up on the sands, with here and there a siene spread out 
to dry, are but faint reminders of the time when this was the most important 
fishing town on the New England coast. Now, however, the entire shore down 
ahnost to the Marblehead line has been captured by the summer resident, and 
the nuinerous tasteful cottages and beautiful villas which crown every eligible 



LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 




SWAMPSCOTT. 



spot, in summer teem with gay and fashionable life, but in the winter present a 
formidable array of shuttered windows, the summer birds having flown back to 




LINCOLN HOUSE, SWAMPSCOTT. 

their winter homes. This is true however only of that portion of the town 

which lies along the shore. The inland section is very much like other towns, 

and were it not for the name could hardly be distinguished from the parent city. 

Nahant, the youngest of the 



family, was gifted both with 
beauty and wilful originality. 
While her sisters seem to have 
been content to settle down to 
quiet lives on the shore, this one 
appears to have tried to run away to 
sea, but found herself held back bv the 
shining white maternal apron stnng. 
The beauties both of form and 'situ- 
ation of these twin islets has ch.illeni 




xi the 



BAILEY'S HILL, NAHANT. 



LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 



159 



idmiration of all who have conic tcj know them. The Indians gave her one of 
the prettiest names of their language, '^ Nahanteau." The legend relates that 
Thorwald, the sturdy Norse adventurer, the first white man who approached 
these shores, at once became enamored of her beauty, a.nd striking his spear 
into her virgin bosom exclaimed ^- Here it is beautiful, and here I would like to 
fix my dwelling." The legend goes on to state that an Indian arrow helped him 
to the attainment of his desire in an unexpected and unpleasant fashion, and that 
his bones now mingle with her soil in some unmarked spot. 

The early settlers seem to have been chiefly uttacted by its economical ad- 
vantages as a cow pasture, no fence being required except across the beach, 
until Edward Randolph became infotuated with its beauty, and undertook to 
wrest it from them. Then an idea of the value of the gift of the dusky Duke 
William suddenly dawned upon them, and they arose as one man to defend 
their common property. Thomas Dexter saw the possibilities of gain in the 
fair domain, and doubtless thought a suit of clothes a cheap enough price 
for it, but it proved otherwise, for instead of the Nahants he got only a trouble- 
some and unfortunate suit at law, and the only one who seems to have profited 
by the trade was the wily Indian who got the new suit. In later years the 
beautiful peninsula was again coveted, and this time gained, and the new pro- 
prietors guard the approaches to their summer homes so closely that the public 




Shag Rocks 



can gain a foothold only in isolated places— the Maolis Gardens on the north 
side and Bass Point on the south. The Nahantese cling to their acres with a 
grip that cash in hand has no power to unloose, and if ever Nahant becomes a 
popular resort the traditions of half a century will have to be reversed. 

The beauties of this spot have been sung by so many gifted tongues that we 
need do nothing more here than to point to the accompany hig chart. "If," 
saysN. P. Willis, "you can imagine a buried Titan lying along the length 
of a continent, with one arm stretched out into the midst of the sea, the spot to 
to which I would transport you, reader mine, would be, as it were, to the palm 



160 LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 

of the giant's hand."' Whitticr also addressed one of his earliest poetic produc- 
tions to this charming spot. 

Nahant, thy beach is beautiful I — 

A dim line through the tossing waves, 
Along whose verge the spectre gull 
Her thin and snowy plumage laves. — 

What time the summer's greenness lingers 

Within thy sunned and sheltered nooks, 
And the green vine with twining fingers 

Creeps up and down thy hanging rocks ! 

Around — the blue and level main- 
Above — a sunshine rich, as fell 

Brighi'ning of old, with golden rain, 
The isle Apollo loved so well. 



But fairer shores and brighter waters. 
Gazed on by purer, lovelier daughters, 

Beneath the light of kindlier skies, 
The wanderer to the furthest bound 
Of peopled earth hath never found 

Than thine — New PZnnjland's Paradise ! 




LYNN AND NAHANT. 



Nahant has always been a favorite resort for those of refined literary tastes ; 
there being something in its peaceful, quiet life and the character of its scenery 
which prompts genius to its best efforts. Longfellow constantly came hither for 
rest and inspiration. A part of "Hiawatha" was written here, and "The 



LYNN AND SURROUNDINGS. 



Ifil 



Bells of Lynn," and " The Ladder of St. Augustine " here found their birthplace, 
and many others of his lyrics in which the presence of the sea is felt by the 
reader, were also written here under its influence. In the Hood Cottage, Motlev 
begun his '' Dutch Republic ;" a little beyond stood the cottage where Prescott 
worked at " Ferdinand and IsabeUa," and " The Conquest of Mexico ;" on the 
point beyond, Agassiz produced his " Brazil ;" and Willis, Curtis, Mrs. vSigour- 
ney, and a host of lesser celebrities have sought and found its magnetic inspira- 
tion. And one of her own sons, Henry Cabot Lodge, has well nigh overturned 
many of the accepted conceptions of early colonial characters by his research and 
keen analysis. Longfellow and Prescott loved best the southern shore, but 
Agassiz chose the northern side. 

The admirably kept roads lead to where the most pleasing sea views are to 
be had. Notwithstanding the horse car is stopped at the town line, and the excur- 
sion steamer is warned offshore, if one can brave the jolting of a barge, or better 
still, command a private conveyance, the wondrous beauties of the ragged riven 
shores may be easily reached. It almost takes one's breath away to watch and 
almost feel the mighty rush and roar of the eternal surges among the resounding 
sides of these cliffs and caverns. The tawney rocks wear coats of grass-green 
velvet above the water line, and the nodding plumes of the sweet fern and col- 
umbine wave from the niches and hollows where they can gain a foothold. The 
sea gulls sail through the air over our heads or swoop upon their prey almost at 
our feet, and the white sails of the numerous water-craft pass and repass before 
our view. Midway between us and the Swampscott shore, rising sturdily above 
the waves which dash around it, stands Egg Rock, as fair in the sunlight as 
when the ardent youth sought to pluck from it the Floure of Souvenance for 
his Lady Alice who was seated, perchance, on the same promontory on which 
we are. And with this quiet scene before the view we bid farewell to the 
friends who have accompanied us thus far in our excursions in Lynn and 
Surroundings. 




V 



H 17 78 



* ^ 







.0' 



^..^ 






^^,. JAN 78 

"IfC"!*- N. MANCHESTER, 
^•■•'' INDIANA 



4m I 



f 



■■%':% 

''■■v.- A 






